Who will move my books?
Apr 12 '00
I have trained my brother, David, so that each year, he buys me the latest Stephen King novel in hardback. My budget allows me to buy paperbacks, so the latest novels are usually beyond my means. He makes sure that each book he buys me is in mint condition and a first edition. To him they are a possible collector's item.
My mother buys me books that mean something to her. Usually religious in nature, they are made even more precious to me by the inscription she always writes on the flyleaf. Usually it is just the date given (Christmas 19xx) and a personal message such as "To my lovely daughter, Lisa, will all my love, Mom". Sometimes she will note how the book helped her. Once it just said: "I love you so much!" With so underlined heavily in ink.
Now e-books are the rage. I had a friend buy me "Riding the Bullet" by Stephen King, a short story written during the early part of King's recovery and available only on the Net. There was no inscription, there was no crisp paper under my fingers. There was no scent of ink and pulp combined... sometimes dust smelling, sometimes with an odor that reminds me of school and chalk for some reason. The edition is not numbered and will never be a collector's item. Unless I print it out, I can not share it with anyone. Nor can I fall asleep reading it.
Electronic books are the latest "wave of the future". I enjoyed the fact that I could bookmark it and that I can keep it probably forever (barring fire or a complete meltdown of my computer). I could change the type and make it larger so I didn't have to wear my reading glasses for once while working on the computer. The words were the same as if they appeared printed on a page. Why then do I dislike e-books?
I remember in reading A Handmaiden's Tale that Offred's job before she was forced into being a Handmaiden was recording books on computer. I thought then that was an odd occupation to have in a library. If all books were on computer, then who would go to the library? I may be strange, okay I am strange, but some of my best memories were wandering around the stacks of the Public Library and just looking at the books. Sometimes I would find something interesting and introduce myself to a whole new author whose works I had yet to discover. I 'met' Catherine Cookson and Betty Smith that way. To this day, I enjoy entering a bookstore and allowing my hands to trail over books that relate some story or idea that was born in someone else's head.
An e-book changes that. I cannot picture myself fondling a computer disk or realizing that it has its own scent. I also find myself concerned for the future if e-books become quite the rage that is anticipated. Why have disks when you can have the information on-line, available anytime? Whole libraries can be reduced to a few mouse clicks and your favorite title will be at hand. That is a good thing, isn't it? No one would even have to store disks, just click, load and read.
Of course, then I am reminded of Winston in 1984 whose job was Information Control. "He who controls the past controls the present. He who controls the present controls the future. He who controls the future controls the world". If all of our written knowledge could be stored on-line and no one needs to own books or e-books on disks, then who could manipulate the facts represented in those books with a few handy mouse clicks? Allow yourself a moment of paranoia for just a moment and image what would happen if the Constitution could be modified by someone with political power? If a book could disappear forever by a click of the mouse? If the printed media could be changed worldwide by one person? Far too Orwellian for me!
Then again, I am moving. About 2000 books from my library are stored at my mother's house. I just moved around another 2000 tonight. Mostly paperbacks, it still was hard work. I still have 3 shelving units of hardback books waiting to be tied or boxed or bundled and moved. A friend who has promised her help in doing so, pointed out to me that my entire library could have been converted to disks and moved in a large box. That is the best argument I could hear for e-books. Still, the negatives, the losses far outweigh it.
My mother told me when she grew up in the depression, her family was too poor to own a radio. Her family and most of her relatives lived within a block of each other. They would gather during the evenings and play cards, snack on whatever food whichever relative brought, sing, play musical instruments, dance, and talk. Today, we gather occasionally to watch TV (when we aren't watching it in the bedroom) and talk during the commercials. But that is progress.
I have to conclude with one point of humor. At the beginning of the 20th century, an elderly farmer and his wife ventured into the big city. They stopped at a nice hotel and watched the elevator in amazement. A young couple got on the elevator, the doors closed. After a few minutes, the doors re-opened and a couple stepped out. The woman was obviously pregnant. The old farmer looked at his wife and said: "Damn progress! Give me the old fashioned way any day!"
I have to agree with him when it comes to my books.
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Epinions.com ID:
laryan
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Member: Lisa Ryan
Location: Louisville, KY
Reviews written: 281
Trusted by: 249 members
About Me:
Been there, done that, bought the T-shirt, moved on, reviewed it all. Made 7 cents.
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