Will Books Ever Go The Way of All Flesh?

[VINMAN]

I'd much rather flip through a paper catalouge, than do it online.

[epbrown]

I've got about 700 books at my place, and I think that's about my limit; going forward, I'm hoping for all e-books if possible. Nope, reading on my iPad isn't as nice as reading an actual book, but books are heavy and take up a ton of space. I'm not giving them another foot of room...

[CJFusco]

Has anyone here read "The Shallows"? If so, I think there's a danger in switching to an all-electronic format, in terms of our ability to read deeply instead of superficially. Think about how easy it will be to hyperlink on an eBook; now think of how often you'll be reading an article on Wikipedia and find yourself clicking on links that bring you further and further away from the original article. Nobody ever reads a complete webpage anymore - those links are too distracting. The distractions are all-invasive; books used to be the only safe haven from them... and now even that's in danger.

Needless to say, I'm a huge bibliophile (I'm an English teacher and a professional writer). I have a pretty nice collection - everything from dog-eared paperbacks to rare, signed first editions. I don't think that books will ever go away completely, but their audience will shrink. Think Jazz, or the Theater.

[widgeon13]

Electronic format for printed material discriminates due to cost and availability to the poor and under privileged. Unless libraries start lending out Kindles instead of books, printed books will be around for quite some time.

[M.D. Holloway]

My collection mostly consists of non-fiction, reference material. The fiction I do have are classics that maybe someday my kids will read. I don't know any other reason to keep them - I won't read them again.