Simply.. a last word on books....

8/2/2015

..at least for a while.

In the film Mr Turner, Turner ponders the future of photgraphy - the daguerrotype - and wonders if he is looking at the death of painting.

I felt a bit the same when I looked at my finished bookshelves and considered the physicality of the information in all those (heavy!) books and of the physical effort it took to sort them, and thought that all the information they represent and much much more can be accessed through a computer, a tablet, or a mobile phone!

Are we looking at the death of books?

153 years on from Turner's death some of us are still painting....

What do you think?

9 Comments

Swissrose link

7/2/2015 08:28:46 pm

I think too many of us love the look and feel of books, but I think we might become more choosy about which ones we want to have physically and which we are content to consume electronically. I certainly hope so, anyway. And there are some areas of knowledge where only a real book can really convey the message, somehow (can't quite put my finger on that one!).

Karen T.

8/2/2015 10:32:19 am

Yes, I always want to have some physical books, especially ones I've loved for a long time. I've become much more choosy about which books I actually want to buy, and which I'm content to borrow from the library (even if it means being on a waiting list).

Grace

7/2/2015 08:35:19 pm

I can't recall when I last read a book on my Kindle. Nothing can replace the heft, the smell and the joy of turning the pages of a real book. And I truly believe "books do furnish a room". A room without books is a room without a soul.

cath

8/2/2015 12:32:16 am

I don't believe in the death of books either. I am an avid poetry reader yet don't read it on my computer screen, tablet,or ereader. They don't make a poem leave the page to enter my heart, I guess. I'm very curious how publishing will develop in the coming years though.

Cathy link

8/2/2015 01:11:06 am

Add me to the list of those who don't see the death of books anytime soon. Can you imagine curling up with your child or grandchild to read wonderful story from an e-reader? I can't fathom it. And I can't begin to imagine what it would be like to read a book like Madeleine Albright's Read My Pins off an e-reader. So much would be lost by not being able to see, in color, her beautiful pins.

That said, I do have an e-reader. After our first beach vacation, J told me the new rule is 'you take it, you carry it' after he had to lug my bag with 10 books. Now I download fiction from the library & in less than 1 pound, I have all the books I could possible want to read that week. I do still take my copy of Ann Morrow Lindberg's Gift From the Sea. It's almost a tradition now to read 1 chapter each morning before my beach walk. It's amazing how my thoughts about each chapter have changed over the years.

Give me an actual book any day.

Karen T.

8/2/2015 10:39:25 am

Oh my goodness, Cathy! You're so right about curling up with a child or grandchild to read from an e-reader! Beautiful picture books just CAN'T be enjoyed electronically! And part of the fun is turning the page to see what comes next. Also having those books that practically fill your lap as you're reading -- for a small child it's like being enveloped in a book. I remember books I had as a child that were MY books, on MY shelf, and how important that was to me. A three-year-old isn't going to have an e-reader (at least, in my opinion, that would be ridiculous), so without physical books she'd miss out on that sense of ownership of those special books.

julia

8/2/2015 03:38:25 am

hi freda...real books will always be my first choice also.i find with kindle, that i cannot remember the title of the book, because i am not picking it up each time. i also love to underline and add marginalia...not the same on a kindle!
i was just discussing this with an independent bookseller, who said they had had the best sales at christmas this year, that they had had in years...long live real books!
and my husband and i have been discussing more bookcases vs. serious "weeding"....we're going for more bookcases!...:-)

Madeleine

8/2/2015 08:18:30 am

Oh no! Certainly there will always be a demand for books. I've never read electronically, and I'm even meeting young people who hate their screens and avoid them wherever possible.

I think things often swing far in one direction, and then swing back again to find balance - look at all of the people discovering growing vegetables, taking up knitting and quilting etc...

I'm a pianist and teacher, and have really worried as many people are now buying keyboards and expecting me to teach their child music. A keyboard is not a piano, in the same way that a fence paling is not a cricket bat!! But I do see the tide turning, and many families are saving up for pianos for their kids.

Freda, painting will always be here, as will music. The human soul needs beauty and art to thrive, and many are turning back to those things as they realise technology has it's uses but doesn't sustain the human spirit. Sorry for the rave! Those of us who can should have contact with the young, and bring up a new generation of people who love books, art, music and nature.

Madeleine.x

Freda

8/2/2015 10:10:40 pm

What a resounding testament to the value of REAL BOOKS! Thank you all so much for your thoughtful and interesting comments. I think, if anything, books will become even more special and treasured.

Simply.. a last word on books....

Leave a Reply.

Categories

Author

Archives