Comments on: Has the Death of Books Been Greatly Exaggerated?

By: Rebeccab

Rebeccab — Mon, 07 Feb 2011 16:22:07 +0000

Storytime, bedtime, teaching little ones to read, these are moments that a Kindle or Nook just cannot create the memories a real book would. No way, no how.

Been a while since I have been in college, but what about writing in the margins, folding the important pages down and staring them, circling the numbers, the 15 different colored highlights and all those weird individual tricks you have to remember things.

My fav. way to spend a rainy day is with a good cup of coffee and browsing the book store for a couple of hours. Doing this online just doesn’t have the same feeling for me.

But, as anyone who loves to read know, when you go on vacation and want a couple of books, lugging around 3 that you may or may not get around to, is a total pain. Ebooks are great for this, and similar situations.

I really do think there’s room for both.

By: karass

karass — Mon, 07 Feb 2011 14:14:33 +0000

I agree with the folks who argue that the tactile and visual experience of printed material is different and not easily replaced by the machine experience. E-reading is not easily done in the bathtub, at the beach, on the potty, or outside on a hike. Machines have to be charged (the bane of my electronic existence), maintained, with instructions learned and passwords memorized. Hard copy books are low-maintenance. And touching and turning the pages IS a pleasurable experience for many. And I wonder about the biology of reading printed material vs. screens. My brain absorbs information according to my field of vision, not in terms of scrolling up and down.

I worry about kids with learning disabilities like dyslexia if the visual simplicity of hard copy reading materials becomes scarce. Oral communication is biologically hard-wired, written communication less so and some human brains find the written word harder to decode than other brains, unrelated to intelligence and understanding of the content. It seems to me that machine communication is one more layer removed from the biological level of oral communication and some brains may find the leap harder than others. (All conjecture, no research, on my part).

By: Chira

Chira — Mon, 07 Feb 2011 13:45:14 +0000

There is something aesthetic and tactile in a printed book that is pleasing. I do not want to be tied to a machine in order to read (or hear) a book. Machine books, machine teachers, machine parents = machine population.

By: Decatur Metro

Decatur Metro — Mon, 07 Feb 2011 00:30:30 +0000

I agree with you. In many ways, e-books can’t compete with a hard or soft copy. Trust me, I grew up literally surrounded by books.

However, if e-books mean that kids (and adults) begin to read more, that’s something that should be taken into consideration in this ongoing discussion.

By: Trish

Trish — Sun, 06 Feb 2011 21:28:20 +0000

Our sense of smell can evoke the most poignant memories. As long as we allow our children to experience this rare treat, books will be around.