> I don't happen to agree with you. A paperback book is about > as portable as > anything and less prone to accident. > > You can throw it down, bend the pages, leave it spread open > to where you > stopped, stuff it in anything, toss it across the room to a > friend, take it on a > camping trip and not worry about batteries and/or > recharging, and as long as > you don't drop it in the water while reading when taking a > bath, it can last > a long, long time. > > Sometimes progress isn't progress, and one can't really beat > a book for > readability and durability. (Yes, hardback too, and they are > still around.) > > People have been predicting the demise of the book for about > 20-30 years, > but books are selling (well, were before the recession) > better than ever. > > Marnie :-) >
I agree. There are more pleasures in reading than just reading. The physicality of the book is important. The smell of a new book, the progressive degradation of the spine as you read it. The ability to scribble on it. Books, as the saying goes, furnish a room. Babies can pick books up and read them upside down, and suck them without electrocuting themselves. Pages rustle and twist and turn. High quality paper feels good in the hand. The weight of a well-made book is like the weight of a good camera - it's balanced and it exhudes quality. Books need shops to sell them. You can into the shop and browse, and meet like-minded people. You can look at a girl and know from the books she's browsing whether she's got a brain or a vacuum between her ears. You can pick people up in bookshops. You can go into a French bookshop in London and be greeted in French, and be in France for half an hour while you browse and eavesdrop. You can go into the library in the British Council in Addis Ababa and be in England for 30 minutes' respite in the cool. Tyrants can burn books. Democrats can spot tyrants by their book-burning habits. A child will never be able to teach herself to read from a machine - she needs a book. Marcel Pagnol taught himself to read, but his mother wouldn't let him have any books until he was 6 years old, 'for fear of a cerebral explosion'. Books free everybody. How would a public library system work without books? Free public libraries are one of the crowning achievements of civilisation, asking nothing of their patrons other than the ability to read quietly. No IT skills, no costly machines or plugs or wires or blue screens of death. Having a Kindle is like having your own CD player. Having a book is like having your own orchestra. Bob -- PDML Pentax-Discuss Mail List [email protected] http://pdml.net/mailman/listinfo/pdml_pdml.net to UNSUBSCRIBE from the PDML, please visit the link directly above and follow the directions.
