I have been wondering this. In how many years will books stop being used, and the decline of writers start? Because... Well, when Scribes worked writing books, they didn't know they were going to get replaced by the print. When Absolutist Monarchs ruled, they didn't know Absolutism would die away with the effort of many revolutions. And horses by cars. You take my meaning XD. word-by-mouth > books> // // > Radio > Television > Computer
I'm going to say never. People have been predicting the decline of the publishing industry in the face of new media for years, and it hasn't happened yet. Just because we're living in a multi-media society doesn't mean there's no room for the book at the party.
I think that a lot of data will end up on the internet and digital databases, but I don't think the book will ever die out. It has been around for thousands of years, and has developed a romanticised element. I think they will stick around for that reason, if not for others.
If they ever say that they are going to get rid of books...I'll cry and go out and buy as many as I can. I've only just begun getting my library back together and.... there is no way books will ever vanish. It just isn't possible. THere is nothing like laying back in bed, in the garden, etc. with a good book in your hands and relaxing.
Books are tangible, they go along with us on long trips, the doctors office, school. You can buy a book and hold on to it, and then, pass it down for other generations to enjoy. I just can't see books becoming a thing of the past.
There's a gadget in production now that is essentially a digital book - I suppose the equivalent of an mp3 player for books/magazines/newspapers. No more paperboys...
Yes but the simple fact is, you drop a real book, it hits the ground, makes a noise, possibly gets a little dirty. You drop anything digital, it gets damaged. Plus I can throw a dictionary at someone and not too much damage is caused <to the dictionary>, but I am sure a digital dictionary would break....paper over digital??? I vote paper thanks!
hahaha...another addition to my list of tangible uses!!! LOL! I have to agree somethings just don't really need improving. There's nothing better than going into the book store and purchasing that new novel. I love the whole experience, the smell of the paper, the way it feels in your hand...I love that stuff!!
I think a driving factor that will diminish the use of physical books will be the dwindling natural resources used in their production.
Well so long as they don't take books away before I get my library in order I don't care. And Chimmy, I love HUGE dictionaries lol
As would I (I still prefer to write with a pen over using my computer ). The sad fact is, I seriously think that books will become obsolete - or at least gain 'retro' status in as much as vinyl records have. Kids today - they sport mp3's and look at you funny when you you mention those weird old things called 'cassettes'. A little OT and not meant to reference anyone elses comments (because I really do love books and paper ), but every time a question like this is asked, I find myself wondering if cavemen sat around going "humph! papyrus? Not for me, I'm sticking to the cave walls thanks!" lol.
Even if books go extinct, that doesn't necessarily mean writers will. They'll just write/get published in a different medium.
I still prefer paper books. No power required except perhaps for a lighting source, the sound and feel of the page when you turn it, even the smell of the paper, especially in older books.
I must agree with Banzai’s take on the matter. There will be a change, because a change is already in progress. When we need to research something, or find a factoid, a trip to the library was once in order. No longer. Now we just turn on the lap top and enter a few words into a search engine. Voila! Instant access to the world’s knowledge for free. We live in the age of Science Fiction. I am thankful for it. But Banzai is correct in that books have a romantic, sometimes even magical element that makes them more that just the sum of paper, leather and glue. Those of you who love fantasy, think about it. How many fantasy stories have magical books as either the centre of the story or as plot devices? Many. Am I the only one who loves the smell of an old book? I’m getting goose bumps just thinking of it. No digital piece of plastic and metal, which I have to charge up, will ever replace the warm snuggly feeling of a real book and a hot cup of coffee or cocoa on a rainy afternoon in my favorite chair. Am I alone here? I refuse to believe it. Books are emotive which takes them out of the realm of the practical. They belong to a different epistemology. (One day, someone on the site is going to tell me, “Enough with the freakin' epistemologies already, Wrey!”) And speaking of practical, they have no batteries, they have no screens to be damages, and you can drop them any number of times. One can (god forbid) even tear one in half alone the spine and still the information inside is not lost, it can still be read. The book, like the pen (whose fate was also foretold long ago) is here to stay.
Well said Wrey...I agree, the smell of an old book...wonderful! It makes me want to open it and read....
We are a family that loves reading. therefore we have lots of books. I have often thought it would be wonderful to have them all on cd when we move it would be so easy. But that being said. I now read books on line and I have a lap top so I can read them anywhere I want. But there is something about curling up with a good book you cannot curl up with a laptop or computer. It will be many years and probably a couple of generations before the books are gone. But even if paper books are gone writers will still be around. most writers do the writing on computer anyway so it will just be a step missing. the printing out on paper. I am just glad books will not disappear or become obsolete until after I am dead and gone. I refuse to come back to a world without books.
I agree! It makes me feel all giddy inside. The kind of kiddy I used to feel regularly as a child, but less and less as adulthood erased the magic from the world. Books have that magic within them. They are priceless to me for it. Perhaps future ages will look upon the data stored in this forum and read these posts and ponder to themselves, "What were they thinking? Books? Made of paper? Those early dark ages must have been strange indeed." To those data archeologists, millennia in the future, here are my words to you about books: They were wonderful and magical. They captured imaginations and gave us respite from a world that was changing so fast we never felt secure from one day to the next. Many of us loved the solid and grounding feel of a book in our hand as we fell off to sleep at night, dreaming the dreams that someone had cared enough to put down on paper of all things. You must have insanely advanced technology compared to my era. I advise you to use that knowledge and print up just one book from my era, on paper held together with glue and string. When you go to bed tonight, read that book and know that this is how it was for us. I pray you enjoy it as much as so many of us did. Wrey Fuentes, lover of books. Caguas, Puerto Rico Early 21st Century
Strange, for english I had to do a close reading paper with this exact argument. xD I don't think I could see books disappearing to be honest. If everything goes online, what happens when the world's electricity supply suddenly gets hit by like a spaceship and it all gets destroyed? It means everything is lost. Even though things have changed in from technology, we still have kept some of the old basics. We still have farmers like we did in the old days and even though their methods of milking a cow might have changed, the milk is still a same. And you can, and probably always will, be able to do it both ways. The methods of reading a book have changed and probably you'll always be able to have a choice since I think there is enough of us to still want the book. Plus, going to the store and buying a book is much easier than trying to find it online where there could be hundreds of fake copies full of nothing but made up garbage.
How I wish my house smelled of books! I dont think anyone's mentioned this, and sorry if they have, but the latest craze in Japan is books on mobile phones. People have been writing novellas in their notes section of their phones and then place them together on a computer, and then you can download them back onto your phone to read on the trains and on your way to work. Although I use a computer to write my books, and couldnt achieve anything if I used the humble pen, I would want my work on paper- glorious paper! The day Ipod gets hold of my work will be the day they perish! Then again, someone has to get hold of my work in the first place....
Not necessary physical books though. My mother just bought an eBook reader. It's about the size of a typical hardbound book, but less than half an inch thick, and she can download quite a few books into it via a USB link to her PC, in turn subscribing through a website. It takes up less space than a single hardbound book or a couple of paperbacks books, as long as she doesn't need to bring the laptop along as well to charge it. It opens like a book, but only displays on the right hand side.
