The Death of Books?

Printed books are on the way out, so make way for electronic reading devices!

This, according to an article in Monday’s Washington Post, is one of the messages to come out of this year’s BookExpo America, held in Manhattan last weekend. Sounds like truly bad news for old-fashioned publishers, brick-and-mortar bookstores—and book lovers.

Now I’m not a Luddite by any means (although I probably could be if I set my mind to it), and I wouldn’t mind trying one of those Kindle thingies if someone gave me one for free. I do, however, have some reservations about the predicted Kindle Revolution.

1. Cost—Reading can be expensive these days, especially if you buy new hardcover books at full price. But reading can also be cheap (used paperbacks) or free (libraries). The latest basic Kindle costs $359—not cheap, and a far cry from free. Will lower-income folks—or even some middle-income folks—be priced out of reading?
2. Obsolescence—Say you plunk down a few hundred dollars for your digital reader today and load it up with some great titles you would like to read over and over again. Will you still be able to read those books in ten years? Or will that nifty reader be a relic full of books in a file type that is not supported by the new and improved devices? I own two books that are over 100 years old, and I can still read them (well, there is one minor complication; they’re both written in ancient Greek). I worry that in the future good books will become obsolete within a decade of publication.
3. Technical troubles—Unless they’ve suffered catastrophic damage, printed books always work. You just open the cover and read. Technology doesn’t always work. If you’ve ever spent an hour trying to make your computer do something that should take three minutes, you know exactly what I mean. The thought of having my reading time dependant on technology makes me more than a little uncomfortable.

I’m trying to be open-minded, and I suppose the electronic readers have their benefits. I could have a lot more living space, for one thing. But somehow I can’t imagine a gadget providing the same sense of comfort, memory, and home as my shelves full of books. Perhaps I’m destined to become an old fogey, clinging desperately to my printed books. If so, book fogies unite!