Better Technology, But a Better Experience?
Oct 06 '00
There is no question that technology is revolutionizing the way we do everything, from our jobs to our tasks and chores to our entertainment. The cassette player replaced the LP. The CD replaced the cassette. The DVD is replacing the CD AND the VCR at once. The Internet is rapidly replacing the television, and the PDA is replacing the calendar, appointment book, and personal organizer. eBooks are replacing bound books. Or are they?
eBooks are definitely high tech, but are they really ever going to sound the death knell for the printed word? I doubt it. And here's why: Their greatest strength is also their greatest weakness -- that is, technology.
Readers are a diehard lot, a rare mix of intellectuals and fantasy escapists. They are at heart sensualists. To them the experience is as important as the story. Many of you, I'm sure, have vivid memories of where you were when you first read your favorite novel. Was it wrapped up in a warm quilt on a cold winter day? Was it in the midday sun on a beach, with warm sand between your toes? Was it your only comfort on an interminable flight stuck in a middle seat between two snorers? Was it on the porch swing as friends and neighbors strolled by? Or was it something completely different, completely unique to you?
Take a look at your bookshelves and remember the where's and when's of your life. One book may remind you of your first love. Another of your long-passed grandfather, who enjoyed reading Charlie and the Chocolate Factory to you as much as you enjoyed hearing it. Yet another may remind you of a summer spent at a cottage on a wooded lake. And another may even remind you of not only where you were, but who you were, what you thought, where you stood.
Now imagine all those scenarios with your favorite page-turner replaced by a laptop or an ebook reader. Imagine the absence of that familiar musty smell from your favorite garage sale find. Imagine the emptiness of the missing inscriptions from both loved ones and second-hand strangers. Imagine clicking "Next" and not licking and rubbing your fingers to unstick stuck pages.
The printed book is a companion, one that reveals secrets and tells you grand tales. It invites you inside the hearts and minds of its characters. It allows you to live a life that you either don't or are incapable of living. It becomes a trusted friend. The warmth and familiarity of its dog-eared pages as welcome as a smile and hug.
This is the essence of the printed book. It is also the antithesis of the ebook. Technology is wonderful. It's speedy. It's easy. It's fascinating. It can also be cold and unfriendly. An ebook is a heartless thing that forces the reader to think of its delivery mechanism much more than the story. The message not only is the medium but is confused for it. Adventure, heartbreak, terror, love, and redemption are removed from the physical interaction between the reader and the book. The ruffled pages are lost. With a printed book, one can imagine, however falsely, that the author may have actually touched the pages you are touching. That fantasy disappears in cloud of zeroes and ones with ebook.
This is not to say that all printed material won't suffer at the hands of the ebook. Magazines and newspapers may well be taken into the technology fold. Their immediacy and shorter lengths are perfect for the digital world. Short stories may even find new life as an art form with newer more up to date delivery vehicles. Web sites specializing in short fiction that can be downloaded to a reader could revolutionize at least that part of the publishing world.
Electronic readers will definitely catch on, but don't shed a tear or celebrate the early death of the novel. It is still a part of our collective soul. It is still strong and vibrant. And for those of you who are old enough to remember, the television was supposed to kill the printed word. Has it suffered? Yes. Has it disappeared? No, a resounding no.
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Epinions.com ID:
tccarroll
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Member: Teddy Carroll
Location: Pittsburgh, PA
Reviews written: 30
Trusted by: 12 members
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