Monday, November 14, 2011
Digital Books
After reading "Books and Other Fetish Objects" by James Gleick it was easy to see both sides of the argument. On one hand I really love having hard copies of books and being able to actually flip pages and use bookmarks. Reaching into my bag and pulling out a physical book as opposed to a Nook or a Kindle is really nice and in a way comforting for me, but as Gleick mentioned briefly books have a sentimental value with some people and I'm definitely one of those people. On the other hand though, when it comes to doing work for school it is so much more convenient to be able to look at things online and read primary sources on the internet instead of having to drive to the library and hoping that the book will be there. Unfortunately the same reason that digitized books appealing also makes it unappealing. For example, my younger sister is nine and hates books. That reason alone is why I think a digitized form of reading could be good for her, but at the same time I worry that it will inhibit her and other kids like her from really enjoying reading as much as people my age do. Not to say that it will be impossible, because people who love to read will read whether it be from a physical book or an ereader but it's just weird to potentially see traditional reading become as phased out as much as it seems to be happening. The article did a good job at showing how valuable traditional reading still is, but it also put into perspective that just because a book or article is online doesn't mean it's less valuable, it's just different.
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I too feel as though it's hard to really choose between staying with what we know and advancing forward with technology. I feel like the saying "why fix it, if it isn't broken" is really relevant to the topic. Although, I do love that Kindle and the new digital books. I too feel as though that actually owning a book and being able to hold it and make notes is a main part of the reading exsperience,
ReplyDeleteI feel that the only thing e-readers leave out is ability to write in the margins, and that is a big deal to me. Other than that, the use of PDFs and other word documents in a much more compact and easily accessible way will only allow better transfer of information that is inside of the books. To an even greater extent, that I am surprised that the article did not comment on, paper book's impact on nature. I think that is something that should impact this discussion just as much, if not more, than a proponents book fetish.
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