It’s not that modern screens aren’t pleasant to read, it’s not that electronic readers don’t feel nice to hold, it’s not that expensive things shouldn’t be used in the bath - it’s because books have more longevity than any other media we use and they do so in serial fashion.
The most common use case for books is a one-at-a-time, one-after-another process. Each unit requiring a huge personal investment in hours. When compared to other media types (music, movies, news) that have easily shed their languishing formats (tape, film, disk) when technology offered up a new digital, transient version - books stubbornly buck the trend every time.
Book users don’t require a searchable, jukebox at their fingertips. They need psychological support and rewards for their lengthy start-to-finish endeavors, which is exactly what a traditional book offers - a physical progress bar that charts the journey inside each unit (using pages and the shift in weight from right hand to left hand) and the trophy cabinet of the bookshelf.
- This article is of course only discussing the virtues of novels and text books and standard usage. The ‘problems’ of other written formats along with the requirements of insubordinate book users, such as students with their parallel consumption of many titles, have already been solved with the latest wave of laptops and the rise of new media.
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Some interesting points raised, and I would have fully agreed until the arrival of the new ebook readers (ie the ones with the e-ink displays). I love books, mostly non fiction- now I look up over my laptop as I sit here and there is a rack with a fair few of them- some bought new, some from second hand shops, many received as presents or testament to my growing Amazon monthly spend. They are all much loved, and every night I pull one out at random and read until I sleep. While I know much of the emotion, routine and comfort would be lost with an electronic device, I know too that for my twice yearly trip to the middle east where there is nothing to do but read, such a device would be heaven- no more excess baggage- and for studies I would far prefer to be able to use a reader than a load of text books- more so if I can annotate. I think the answer for me is that each form of media delivers a completely different experience for the purpose at hand, and while electronic media adds to that choice, I won’t ever let it replace my books. For me it’s like someone who loves watching plays feeling threatened by the movies. Same basic idea, different media outlets, one more accessible than the other; however there’s room for both in the world.