Take all of your arguments against the inevitability of e-books and substitute the word "horse" for "book" and the word "car" for "e-book." Here are a few examples to whet your appetite for the (really) inevitable debate in the discussion section at the end of this article.
"Books will never go away." True! Horses have not gone away either.
"Books have advantages over e-books that will never be overcome." True! Horses can travel over rough terrain that no car can navigate. Paved roads don't go everywhere, nor should they.
"Books provide sensory/sentimental/sensual experiences that e-books can't match." True! Cars just can't match the experience of caring for and riding a horse: the smells, the textures, the sensations, the companionship with another living being.
Long article but worth the read.
I don't think it's going to come from the spindleblossom but I'm sure those dastardly geniuses at Apple are coming up with something for the itunes store...
I have to say and I know Matthew hates it, but I read more on my iphone than most anywhere else and the more I do it the more reading on a little screen doesn't bother me... AND I OWN A BOOKSHOP AND LOVE BOOKS!
Horses, horses, horses, horses
Coming in in all directions
White shining silver studs with their nose in flames,
He saw horses, horses, horses, horses, horses, horses, horses, horses.
So what the hell are we doing perservering with this bookshop nonsense? This anachronism? Well, it's a nice place to come to work everyday innit. Plus, as crazy as it may seem, I guess we're almost professional booksellers by now. We get to do the filtering, the sifting, the looking at all the interesting things that the punters don't have time to do. Then when we present all these lovely things in our lovely shop they can come in and say things like, "what a great selection you have" and we say "why, thank you".
And then, in the very near future, they can go to the caff down the road and download what they've seen straight to their iphone in 30 seconds.
When suddenly johnny gets the feeling hes being surrounded by
Horses, horses, horses, horses
Coming in in all directions
White shining silver studs with their nose in flames,
He saw horses, horses, horses, horses, horses, horses, horses, horses.
Brilliant post, Adam.
ReplyDeleteWell people still ride horses, even in London...There will still be bookshops but it'll mean only the good ones survive. They may become a tad elitist but they'll be there.
ReplyDeleteChew on this. On Lower Marsh there's a fabulous knitting shop; jumpers are a hell of a lot cheaper in Primark but it dosen't stop us punters spending a small fortune and a couple of weeks (or months)out of our lives making one.
You'll be alright.
Great analogy - but the best bookshops are the ones you walk into and end up leaving having bought a bunch of books that you never even knew existed - there'll always be a place for passionate / knowledgable people that can curate or filter things.
ReplyDeleteTo continue your analogy: see Edwin Muir's poem "The Horses" for a perspective on the future.
ReplyDeleteThe analogy isn't a perfect one. Cars can get people places faster than horses can, and can travel further than horses can without the rest horses would require. Reading the text of a book on an e-book reader doesn't allow the reader to get more out of the book, or read the book significantly faster, than reading the text of a book in a physical book does.
ReplyDeleteI like patti smith
ReplyDelete