Monday, April 23, 2007

Tell me if it's crap

I submitted the following for a scholarship at
Fastweb.

What is the future of the printed book?

Without a doubt, our world has gone increasingly
hi-tech and virtual. Music and even books are
available for download. What will happen to the poor
printed page? While preparing to write my entry, I
looked at my crammed bookshelf. Pick one item? I could
pick a dozen! My eyes did light on my battered copy of
Charlotte Bronte's Jane Eyre. This book has followed
me through high school and undergraduate studies. I
must have been required to read it for at least four
different classes, but I still don't tire of it. It is
still one of my favorite books to pick up and read on
a lazy day.

That's just it: pick up and read. And sniff and smell.
I think the printed book is safe because, deep inside,
as humans, we love the tangible. You can't really curl
up with a computer; besides, what happens if the power
goes out? A real book is something to be on intimate
terms with: the cradling of the volume in your hands,
the scent of old yellowed pages, the sight of
dog-eared pages leading to your favorite passages, the
soft rasp as a page is turned. Even the occasional
stain from a coffee cup placed too closely to the book
is something to be remembered. A digital text,
obviously, lacks these humble yet endearing marks of
affection.

I couldn't stand to read my favorite Jane Eyre online.
It would lack all the intimacy and sensory input that
the actual physical book has. Books are treasures not
just for what they contain, but also for the feelings
they evoke in all our senses. I've visted ancient
European academic libraries and just been awash with
the sights, smells and hushed silence of a hall filled
with thousands of beloved dusty volumes. The written
and printed word delights our human senses. Whether
reading for pleasure or knowledge, the printed book is
tangible evidence of our thoughts, dreams and ideas –
something an e-text can never replace.

1 comments:

The Wandering Author said...

I hope you're right - but you grew up with books. Later readers will have grown up reading on the Internet. And I think we're facing a change as great as the Industrial Revolution and the invention of printing, together.

(Since I was once a letterpress - that is, hand set type - printer, and still love it, I don't make the above observation lightly.)