‘Books Have No Real Future’?

Posted on | August 30, 2011 | 31 Comments

Excuse me for disagreeing with Bill Quick about that, as I sit in my home office surrounded by a vast personal library of hundreds of books. The idea that we are transitioning permanently and irrevocably to an electronic future, where words printed on paper are of no value, would seem contradicted by various facts.

Is your computer hooked up to a printer? How often do you buy ink cartridges and paper for that printer? Is there a a book, magazine or newspaper within arm’s reach of where you’re sitting this very minute? Do you have a business card — ink on paper — in your pocket or purse? Do you have printed memos or presentations on your office desk?

Digital enthusiasts are to be forgiven for loving what they do and doing what they love, but you can love your Kindle without succumbing to active hostility toward the dead-tree medium, per se. And it struck me years ago, after reading Sven Birkert’s brilliant book The Gutenberg Elegies, that there are certain intrinsic values of the printed book which may be lost by a hasty abandonment of dead-tree publishing.

Having learned to read with books, and having learned to write with pencil and paper — an experience I share with all literate adults, including Bill Quick — I am skeptical that current or future youth would obtain the same educational value, qualitatively, by learning their lessons from electronic media.

We see evidence of this problem already: Some educators have increasingly abandoned old-fashioned drill-work and recitation, based on the assumption that students don’t need to know facts, but rather need only the “research skills” to look up whatever they wish to know. Unfortunately, that pedagogical stance doesn’t encourage kids to develop the knowledge base necessary to evaluate critically whatever turns up on Google.

We have witnessed a plague of plagiarism and cheating among college students, and have also seen astonishing incidences of young journalists publishing plagiarized or fictionalized “news.” Many kids nowadays aren’t taught the value of knowing — committing facts to memory — and this deficit, an unforeseen consequence of the skills-based approach to education, impedes their intellectual abilities in many ways. Excuse me for thinking that this problem is closely related to the digital enthusiasms encouraged during the 1990s (after Al Gore invented the Internet), and fostered by the thoughtless cut-and-paste habits that too many students employ routinely when doing online research.

Pronouncing the doom of the book may be emotionally satisfying to those of us who nowadays write mainly for an online readership (and read mainly online writers), but excuse my old-fashioned mind for the concern that something valuable might be lost in a too-hasty race from print to pixels.

(Hat-tip: Instapundit, whose frustrations with an automated phone-tree ought to be an object lesson in the perils of technological “progress.”)

Category: Books

Comments

31 Responses to “‘Books Have No Real Future’?”

rosalie
August 30th, 2011 @ 11:42 am

You expressed very eloquently exactly how I feel. I have friends who sing praises of using a Kindle, but I like holding a book in my hand when I read. I was very surprised to learn too that many public shcools no longer teach cursive writing. My grandson is transferring to a Catholic school this year and it’s going to be a bit of a problem for him since it’s required there.
wraithwulf
August 30th, 2011 @ 11:50 am

Paper books, like CD’s and DVD’s, cannot get wiped clean by a large magnet. This is a huge reason why paper books and CD/DVD’s will not die off any time soon – they’re permanent.
Threedonia
August 30th, 2011 @ 1:32 pm

Long before the temperature reaches 451 degrees Fahrenheit… the wispy prophecies of the “books are dead… and we killed them crowd” will burn off. What will the Kindle-phile (they did it all for Nook-ie?) crowd do when our electric grid comes crumbling down because the damn dirty hippies and their bureaucratic enablers have turned this into the Planet of the Apes?

Long live books!!
Datechguy
August 30th, 2011 @ 3:06 pm

Also remember that an electronic copy can be altered without people noticing. Can’t do that with a book
Anonymous
August 30th, 2011 @ 3:26 pm

I remember this being the perdiction when we first went to computers.
They said we would have a paperless world. It created more need for paper. The printed book will not die. People do not trust the digital world that much.
Shawn Gillogly
August 30th, 2011 @ 3:29 pm

I’ve been hearing this for a decade now. I still don’t believe it. I might get a Kindle or Nook someday. They’re useful for saving space when you go on vacation. But at home, I want a book in my hands. And I *like* going to brick-and-mortar stores still.
Anamika
August 30th, 2011 @ 3:44 pm

Everyone does better when they speak for themselves no matter what they say. That’s because the internet is god’s way of speaking directly to all beings (who have a computer). Books are the devil’s words, don’t read them, because He Who Limits Aliveness has control over what is mass produced.

Here is some good, but not as good as our own shouting and dancing, James Brown for you this morning to get in the mood for Aliveness and for more campaign related travel in the coming weeks.
rosalie
August 30th, 2011 @ 4:38 pm

Hopefully, we’ll always have books, but I think it’s because of computers that cursive writing is not being taught in many schools.
David H Dennis
August 30th, 2011 @ 4:42 pm

I really like the sensory experience of browsing in the paper book store. Theoretically, I should get the same from Amazon, with its infinite library, but in practice, maybe I want to read more than the first chapter, or maybe I just like getting out of the house every once in a while.

When I go to the paper bookstore, I will buy paper books unless the price difference between paper and iBook/Kindle is huge. Surprisingly enough, it’s usually miniscule.I do think publishers are losing a lot on pricing paper books and electronic books at such close prices. They would probably increase sales by 10x if they priced ebooks at half the cost of paper but usually I’m seeing the cost at around 9/10ths.Even old Heinlein classics cost $7.99 for the paper and $7.99 for the ebook. Why?D
David H Dennis
August 30th, 2011 @ 4:42 pm

I really like the sensory experience of browsing in the paper book store. Theoretically, I should get the same from Amazon, with its infinite library, but in practice, maybe I want to read more than the first chapter, or maybe I just like getting out of the house every once in a while.

When I go to the paper bookstore, I will buy paper books unless the price difference between paper and iBook/Kindle is huge. Surprisingly enough, it’s usually miniscule.I do think publishers are losing a lot on pricing paper books and electronic books at such close prices. They would probably increase sales by 10x if they priced ebooks at half the cost of paper but usually I’m seeing the cost at around 9/10ths.Even old Heinlein classics cost $7.99 for the paper and $7.99 for the ebook. Why?D
David H Dennis
August 30th, 2011 @ 4:42 pm

I really like the sensory experience of browsing in the paper book store. Theoretically, I should get the same from Amazon, with its infinite library, but in practice, maybe I want to read more than the first chapter, or maybe I just like getting out of the house every once in a while.

When I go to the paper bookstore, I will buy paper books unless the price difference between paper and iBook/Kindle is huge. Surprisingly enough, it’s usually miniscule.I do think publishers are losing a lot on pricing paper books and electronic books at such close prices. They would probably increase sales by 10x if they priced ebooks at half the cost of paper but usually I’m seeing the cost at around 9/10ths.Even old Heinlein classics cost $7.99 for the paper and $7.99 for the ebook. Why?D
David H Dennis
August 30th, 2011 @ 4:42 pm

I really like the sensory experience of browsing in the paper book store. Theoretically, I should get the same from Amazon, with its infinite library, but in practice, maybe I want to read more than the first chapter, or maybe I just like getting out of the house every once in a while.

When I go to the paper bookstore, I will buy paper books unless the price difference between paper and iBook/Kindle is huge. Surprisingly enough, it’s usually miniscule.I do think publishers are losing a lot on pricing paper books and electronic books at such close prices. They would probably increase sales by 10x if they priced ebooks at half the cost of paper but usually I’m seeing the cost at around 9/10ths.Even old Heinlein classics cost $7.99 for the paper and $7.99 for the ebook. Why?D
David H Dennis
August 30th, 2011 @ 4:42 pm

I really like the sensory experience of browsing in the paper book store. Theoretically, I should get the same from Amazon, with its infinite library, but in practice, maybe I want to read more than the first chapter, or maybe I just like getting out of the house every once in a while.

When I go to the paper bookstore, I will buy paper books unless the price difference between paper and iBook/Kindle is huge. Surprisingly enough, it’s usually miniscule.I do think publishers are losing a lot on pricing paper books and electronic books at such close prices. They would probably increase sales by 10x if they priced ebooks at half the cost of paper but usually I’m seeing the cost at around 9/10ths.Even old Heinlein classics cost $7.99 for the paper and $7.99 for the ebook. Why?D
David H Dennis
August 30th, 2011 @ 4:42 pm

I really like the sensory experience of browsing in the paper book store. Theoretically, I should get the same from Amazon, with its infinite library, but in practice, maybe I want to read more than the first chapter, or maybe I just like getting out of the house every once in a while.

When I go to the paper bookstore, I will buy paper books unless the price difference between paper and iBook/Kindle is huge. Surprisingly enough, it’s usually miniscule.I do think publishers are losing a lot on pricing paper books and electronic books at such close prices. They would probably increase sales by 10x if they priced ebooks at half the cost of paper but usually I’m seeing the cost at around 9/10ths.Even old Heinlein classics cost $7.99 for the paper and $7.99 for the ebook. Why?D
Zilla of the Resistance
August 30th, 2011 @ 5:20 pm

If you take a book with you to a nice relaxing bubble bath, the worst that’ll happen is you need to dry it out if you drop it, drop a laptop or kindle in the tub, that’s a whole other story!
Daily Pundit » Didn’t Say I Like It, Just That It’s Going To Happen
August 30th, 2011 @ 1:26 pm

[…] ‘Books Have No Real Future’? : The Other McCain Excuse me for disagreeing with Bill Quick about that, as I sit in my home office surrounded by a vast personal library of hundreds of books. […]
William Quick
August 30th, 2011 @ 5:27 pm

I really like the sensory experience of browsing in the paper book store.

Let me know how much you enjoy the sensory experience of browsing in a Borders next month….

The big box bookstores put most of the corner book nooks out of business. Now the big boxes themselves are going down. Have you ever given even a moment’s thought as to why that is happening, or the slightest consideration to the notion that just perhaps the process isn’t over yet?

Simply because you want paper books is no guarantee you’re always going to be able to get them.
Anonymous
August 30th, 2011 @ 5:37 pm

I’m pretty sure the Kindle doesn’t pack enough power to kill you in the tub. That laptop, on the other hand…
Anonymous
August 30th, 2011 @ 5:45 pm

Because publishers control the prices on e-books, and they don’t want to cut into their paperback profits. Some publishers are smarter than that, but unfortunately they don’t all have Jim Baen’s vision.

On the other hand, Amazon is making self-publishing less of an expensive vanity and more of an option for people trying to break into publishing who can’t attract the attention of an agent, much less a publisher. Ric Locke, for example, has done quite well with his self-published Temporary Duty, and he’s not the only one.

On the other tentacle, I think the days of the “big box” bookstore are numbered. If you treat books as a commodity, you can’t hope to compete with Amazon because their economies of scale and convenience will kill you. If you treat books as a medium for connecting with other people who have similar interest, though, and make the effort to hire people knowledgeable in specific areas (history, SF, romance novels, etc.) then you’re going to survive while Borders and its ilk waddle off to the tar pits.
Zilla of the Resistance
August 30th, 2011 @ 5:47 pm

I am on my computer or near my computer a lot more than any normal person should be, but when I want to relax and get away from everything, there is nothing better than a good book which I can hold in my hands and turn the paper pages of. I also still enjoy sitting at my kitchen table and reading a newsPAPER. my kids love old fashioned books too. You don’t need batteries, electric of wifi to enjoy a BOOK.
Anonymous
August 30th, 2011 @ 5:48 pm

The big box bookstores put most of the corner book nooks out of business.

Have they really, Bill? I don’t seem to have a lot of trouble finding niche-market booksellers who deal in new and used books and are taking advantage of the Internet (including Amazon.com) to sell their wares. I agree that the business of book sales is in a process of change, but I also agree with Stacy that we’re going to see a lot of dead trees turned into books for a while yet.
Anonymous
August 30th, 2011 @ 6:50 pm

The perils of trying to go paperless doesn’t just affect books.
The last project I worked on was various “Leeds” certifications one of which was making the “contract documents” as paper less as possible. Revisions and updates to the drawings weren’t mailed to the various subcontractors but sent to a website for “sharing”. While it wasn’t hard to get a password and set up an account, most of the field guys for the smaller subs weren’t even aware of this and the people in their offices failed to grasp the significance. Naturally hilarity ensued.
rosalie
August 30th, 2011 @ 7:09 pm

And it’s nice to sit at a table with pencil in hand to do those puzzles in the newspapers.
Anonymous
August 30th, 2011 @ 7:28 pm

The important books have to be on paper. That way you can argue with the author by writing in the margins. You can also put in cross references to other things in the book. You can underline, circle, put exclamation points, etc.

I’m always reading an entire stack of books at once. I go slow on the whole stack, taking years to finish half of it. All of the books that make it in my stack are heavily annotated on the paper pages inside.

Brain candy books are fine for e-reading. Also news and magazines. Besides, news and mag articles deserve a comment section like this blog has.
Zilla of the Resistance
August 30th, 2011 @ 8:40 pm

Well the big box bookstores killed all the nice little neighborhood bookstores, perhaps the death by internet of the big lummoxes will usher in a return of the mom & pops? I can dream, right?
Anonymous
August 30th, 2011 @ 9:11 pm

It all depends. Are mom & pop going to specialize in a niche (kids’ books, science fiction, mysteries, whatever) or try and recreate the old general-purpose bookstore? If the former, I think they’d have a good chance of making it work. If the latter, I think they’re going to lose their stake.
William Quick
August 30th, 2011 @ 10:59 pm

Wombat: Yeah, they have. Really.

Independent bookstores fighting chains, Internet to stay open – USATODAY.com

Not only that, but even as 200 to 300 independent book stores close a year, the number of independent book stores opening is creeping up.

“For a long time, from 1992 to 2002, you literally could count on two hands the number of openings,” said Oren Teicher, chief operating officer of the American Booksellers Association. “In the last three years there are 60, 70, 80 stores opening” each year, he said.

That’s welcome news for an association that’s watched its membership plummet from 4,000 to about 1,800 since the early 1990s.

That’s welcome news for an association that’s watched its membership plummet from 4,000 to about 1,800 since the early 1990s.

So…200-300 closures per year, 60-80 openings, following shrinkage from 4000 to 1800? Would you invest in that industry if it were selling…say…buggy whips? Do the math. Net loss of 200 or so per year, starting from a base of 1800 – in nine years, they’ll be gone.
Mike
August 30th, 2011 @ 11:01 pm

Well, I’m sure glad to have my “dead tree” copy of Donkey Cons to read. 😉

Also, as I was dropping off the trash the other day, I noticed a large stack of books and magazines. There were several volumes of a hard cover magazine called ‘Wisdom’ by Encyclopedia Britannica from 1959, plus some old agricultural books, an Art Buchwald book,” How Much Is That In Dollars?”, and a few others. Of course I picked them up…I hate to see books get thrown away – maybe that’s why we have a book problem. We have more books than the local library.
William Quick
August 30th, 2011 @ 11:07 pm

Look, I collect vinyl. I have old hi-fi equipment I play it on. It’s a hobby. There are maybe a dozen outlets for vinyl in a city the size of San Francisco where I live. They sell a lot of used records. That’s where books are heading. They’ll be available in a few stores here and there, mostly used, serving a niche market of hipsters, geezers, and collectors. Beyond that, though? Nothing that will look like the dead-tree publishing empires of yore.
Will Books Become a Thing of the Past? | The Lonely Conservative
August 30th, 2011 @ 7:19 pm

[…] read about in an email from your grandfather saying “I remember when.” I have to say, I’m with Stacy on this one. So are the shoppers who lined up for the used book sale at Shoppingtown Mall in Dewitt, NY a week […]
Anonymous
August 31st, 2011 @ 7:48 am

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