After reading the two chapters in Howard, I realized just how lucky I was to be reading from a one pound or less book with a binding and cover. Previously, I never thought of a book as evolving from something else, as a means of technology. Thinking about the future it is sad to imagine the disappearance of books. Growing up, I assumed that books would be around forever; How could you improve a book? But I guess that is how people way back when felt about writings on papyrus, parchment, stone, and clay. Recently, the new craze of e-books has popped up and dented the sales of actual books. Call me old fashioned, but I can not wrap my head around that yet. Even reading short pieces online bothers me. In fact most of the time I choose to print out what I am reading no matter how short, or long for that matter. There is something about the book that is lost when switched over electronically. To me, at least, just having the physical book in front of me with pages that I can highlight, annotate, or even just feel it is there, is important to me. It is scary to think that one day everything may work electronically. Will people even leave their dwellings? What will happen to human interaction- will it all be over a computer? Will we be able to document our writings to display like those we saw on Tuesday? Or will none of it mean very much considering everyone will have access to the internet to view it? Will important things be lost in the presence of too much information?
I agree with this post on two levels. First, I agree we are lucky to have print like we do now, but not only for the reason of having to deal with bulky books. We are even luckier in my opinion because it is more practical to publish ideas. This creates more spread of ideas and a more literate and intelligent world. On the second level I agree with the sentiment that it is preferred to read a hard copy rather than a digital copy. In my opinion it is simply preferred and although cliched and a weak argument, the way books should be read.
I found it really interesting from this post and the comment that followed to learn that their are still people who prefer a hard copy over an electronic copy. I, also, prefer to read hard copies and I know so many people who love to read hard copies of books. So this makes me ask the question why is our society so stuck on the idea of moving towards a totally digital world? Do we not understand the danger of eliminating paper writing from our society?