Books Aren’t Good Enough

I have a prediction:  the public will soon be divided into two camps.  On the one hand we’ll have these new technology enthusiasts, who not only love their ebooks, but can’t wait to see how the old skool words-on-a-page notion of books can be heightened, made more graphic, more interactive, more like a whole new category of technology—a mook or a boovie.  And on the other hand will be people like me, who love books because they are in fact merely words-on-a-page that when done properly, can create a world all their own.  People like me might be a minority, but we’ll catch momentum when the nostalgia trend peaks again, and it’s suddenly cool to be old skool.

Have you seen this New York Times article?  Books will now have soundtracks.  Am I the only person who sees a problem with this?  Great!  Now we don’t have to waste energy imagining what the music will sound like!  Using imagination is so last millennium!  Now, someone has imagined for us.  But it will be researched and grounded in history!  You’ll be able to click on the song and know who wrote it and when he died a pauper because he wasn’t appreciated while he lived!  True, and true.  But don’t we already have the Internet for that?  And aren’t we already seeing some of the downfalls of being spoon-fed our knowledge this way?   And by the way, how lazy are we?  And what are we going to do with all this extra time we’re freeing up?

Let me ask you this:  when did books stop being good enough as they were?  I just spent a long weekend camping and for the most part, I read a book.  Sure, we fed geese and hiked and watched kangaroos tote their little joeys around.  But when it was quiet time, we read books.  They had actual paper pages with black print on them.  It rained; it was sunny.  We traveled around to all different spots, and we took these books with us.  I loved mine (One Day by David Nicholls—and by the way, not the movie edition).  My husband loved his (A Clash of Kings by George RR Martin).  In fact, I’d say in large part these wonderful books set the tone for our trip because neither of us could put ours down.

Perhaps there’s something wrong with me, but I don’t see how such a complicated, messy project as an author’s book, presented so simply as a plain old book can be improved upon.  Aha.  And that’s what it’s all about isn’t it?  Beyond the distribution to those who otherwise wouldn’t be able to have books, beyond the students whose carbon footprints will probably be cut by ninety percent without all those bulky textbooks, and beyond the other commonsensical areas where ebooks make practical sense, the only reason these suped-up books are coming into vogue is because we live in a capitalist society.  These books mean more money because what the industry calls “non-readers” will “read” them.  Okay, fine.  I have nothing against more people reading.  But can we also give some credit where credit is due?  Books have been around for a long time, largely in the same format.  And they rock.  Even the old ones.  Maybe especially the old ones.