Tuesday, June 1, 2010

The E-Book Revolution is Coming

For a long time I was in denial about this. Nothing, I thought, nothing could replace books. Nothing could replace going to the library and browsing the shelves, picking up a tantalizing title, running my hands over the cover, admiring the artwork and design that goes into crafting those little capsules of delight we call books. Crack it open, read the front flap, sample the first page, I'm hooked... can downloading an e-book possibly compare?

But I've seen more and more people with electronic reading devices. They look nice. And I do care deeply about trees and rivers and all the other things in the environment that are affected by paper production.

I'll tell you what really decided me, though. I'm moving to Hawaii in six weeks. A lifetime collection of books is piled on my dining room floor. Any books I want to keep I have to ship. Thousands of pounds of books. Even with media mail rates, that's going to make a dent in my bank account.

If I had an electronic reading device, I could fit my entire library into my purse.

Nothing can replace paper books. It won't be the same. It will be different.

But in some ways, it will be better.

This will be my last post, sisters. I'm stepping down so I can focus on moving my family to Hawaii. I'll be back in the fall as critique group coordinator on the MMW Yahoo site. See you then! Love to all and best wishes for your writing projects.

5 comments:

  1. "Nothing can replace paper books. It won't be the same. It will be different.

    But in some ways, it will be better."

    It's true... I do wonder what it's like to read a novel on an iPad.

    ReplyDelete
  2. I'm right there with you. I love the feel and smell and weight of a real book in my hands, my husband laughs at me but I like the whole book experience. I think that ereaders and fantastic but personally I'll never be able to give up books. I think someday my grandchildren will look at me like I'm crazy cause I'll still have a huge library of books when everything is electronic.

    ReplyDelete
  3. I love "real" books! I will admit I'd love to be a Kindle or something. But there is always going to be a part of me that doesn't trust the digital book idea. See, my paranoia causes me to worry about things like post-apocalyptic life when there is no electricity. What good would an electronic collection of books be then?

    I know. I'm goofy that way. But I'd be the first to admit that if the money were to drop into my lap to purchase such a device, I would happily do it. Keep my favorites in hard copy and the rest could be digital.

    ReplyDelete
  4. It would be a sad, sad day when we see the end of books.

    ReplyDelete
  5. I too love having real copies of books. Although I am not against the e-books. I would be sad to have to part with my favorite books in a move.

    Good luck with your move. And I look forward to hearing more from you in the fall.

    ReplyDelete

LinkWithin

Related Posts with Thumbnails