Thursday, November 25, 2010

Too Many Books (Never)

Ran across this exchange on a site I follow and found myself agreeing.  Maybe someday when the e-readers can use amazing projection technology to show the full color stuff and let me actually page back and forth and mark and underline with ease and not have a tiny screen and be only $20 I will possibly buy one.  Or if I have to go overseas for an extended time and can't bring my libraries with me.

"MICHELLE: It is, but the production on this series is especially lovely—one can unfurl the whole cover (French flaps and all) and get one long vertical scene of some lower-level buildings—and it’s a real treat to read a physical copy. Online just isn’t the same.
MELINDA: We’ll be relics someday, you realize… shaking our canes at those digital-obsessed kids, doomed to meet our demise under the weight of a thousand overstuffed bookcases. ;)
MICHELLE: Yep. I’m already feeling curmudgeonly because I honestly cannot tell you who a lot of current celebrities are. Who are Nick and Vanessa? Why does their engagement merit a headline on CNN? I have no clue.
MELINDA: The police will shake their heads, sadly, when they finally discover our bodies. “Too many books,” they’ll say, sighing heavily.
MICHELLE: At least we’ll have died happy.
MELINDA: Amen."
Amen, indeed.

1 comment:

  1. I've been thinking about what a sort of digitized revolution does for our everyday aesthetics. I think part of the reason facebook and twitter addicts talk about their food so much is because it's something you can't actually simulate in a virtual environment. Part of me wouldn't mind using an ereader that matches your description (like that'll ever happen), especially if all of the lame books that aren't worth my time were published that way instead of wasting trees. I like to imagine a world where only the really good books will be printed, on gorgeous thick paper, beautifully bound, with wonderful illustrations or medieval-style illumination even. As awesome an invention as the printing press was... we might've lost something along the way.

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