E-Sorrow
May 9th 2010 08:33
By Maimoona Rahman
This may sound terribly old school that I can’t shake off my love for books on paper bound by thicker paper, or better still, hard cover. They make up amazing mural decorations, fill up shelves, and are inarguably easy to carry around from room to room before they finally snuggle beneath the pillow at night. Unless, of course, we are talking about the Encyclopaedia Britannica. The gentle tingle on the olfactory lobes by the odour of crisp papers of a brand new book is more of my delight than the words printed inside.
Ah, the delight! Until the e-book revolution sprung out of nowhere and hijacked my little bubble of joy with cheaper, unpalpable, unsmellable books hidden behind transparent screens. Before kindle and other e-book readers made their landmark appearance sometime last year, I was convinced something as dignified as palpable books wouldn’t become redundant. After all, the computer isn’t portable, the laptop can get tedious to carry around, and the iPhone’s screen is pitiably tiny. But, e-book readers, as you all know, are so cool – even newspapers will lose its papers in a couple of more years. Plus, your books are less demanding in e-version; all you need is a storage device like a flash drive to hold all your books. Something that can be stashed in the pocket, aye? And if you’re moving, you wouldn’t have to bother about boxing up your myriad collection of books and carting them with the furniture. Oh, and the e-book readers are very, very portable.
The e-book generation may also wipe out traditional publishing from the face of earth. Any Tom, Dick, and Harry will be able to self-publish for cheap and sell out on amazon, or any other e-bookstore. The disappointment of this possibility is that marketing books will become exponentially harder and publicising will cost so much more because it’ll be close to impossible to emerge through the web of websites. Also, publishing houses and book stores will lay off. Unemployment will be on the rise. Lots of terrible things will take form as the delightful generation in which I grew up will wash away into some history book or a dusty museum.
I still rummage through the shelves of book stores looking for bargains, best sellers, and little known authors. I still feel for the cash in my wallet and sigh over its lack or delight over its presence. Except, now that even I have endorsed the e-life, I have more e-books than I can count. Paperbacks and hard covers are rarely in my receipts. And I can only peruse through books at book stores, withstanding the fragrance of brand new books, resisting the temptation to make them mine for a heavy price. Because even I have started carrying books in my pocket against my whims.
Courtesy, techfodder.com
This may sound terribly old school that I can’t shake off my love for books on paper bound by thicker paper, or better still, hard cover. They make up amazing mural decorations, fill up shelves, and are inarguably easy to carry around from room to room before they finally snuggle beneath the pillow at night. Unless, of course, we are talking about the Encyclopaedia Britannica. The gentle tingle on the olfactory lobes by the odour of crisp papers of a brand new book is more of my delight than the words printed inside.
Ah, the delight! Until the e-book revolution sprung out of nowhere and hijacked my little bubble of joy with cheaper, unpalpable, unsmellable books hidden behind transparent screens. Before kindle and other e-book readers made their landmark appearance sometime last year, I was convinced something as dignified as palpable books wouldn’t become redundant. After all, the computer isn’t portable, the laptop can get tedious to carry around, and the iPhone’s screen is pitiably tiny. But, e-book readers, as you all know, are so cool – even newspapers will lose its papers in a couple of more years. Plus, your books are less demanding in e-version; all you need is a storage device like a flash drive to hold all your books. Something that can be stashed in the pocket, aye? And if you’re moving, you wouldn’t have to bother about boxing up your myriad collection of books and carting them with the furniture. Oh, and the e-book readers are very, very portable.
The e-book generation may also wipe out traditional publishing from the face of earth. Any Tom, Dick, and Harry will be able to self-publish for cheap and sell out on amazon, or any other e-bookstore. The disappointment of this possibility is that marketing books will become exponentially harder and publicising will cost so much more because it’ll be close to impossible to emerge through the web of websites. Also, publishing houses and book stores will lay off. Unemployment will be on the rise. Lots of terrible things will take form as the delightful generation in which I grew up will wash away into some history book or a dusty museum.
I still rummage through the shelves of book stores looking for bargains, best sellers, and little known authors. I still feel for the cash in my wallet and sigh over its lack or delight over its presence. Except, now that even I have endorsed the e-life, I have more e-books than I can count. Paperbacks and hard covers are rarely in my receipts. And I can only peruse through books at book stores, withstanding the fragrance of brand new books, resisting the temptation to make them mine for a heavy price. Because even I have started carrying books in my pocket against my whims.
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