Tonight I came across an article that troubled me....although it wasn't the actual subject matter that bothered me; my concerns ran deeper. As I read about Barnes and Noble's recent decision to "put itself up for sale" this month, I nearly cringed when I saw this sentence: "My hunch is that B&N never really embraced the Internet or e-books, tied as it was to the old-fashioned world of physical books and stores."
I could care less what happens to a corporate bookstore, but what I do care about is the future of 'physical books.' My concern is that with such rapid advances and trends in technology, there may come a day when physical books become obsolete. And if that day comes, that may bring with it a grief I may not be able to bear.
This may sound bizarre to most people, but books are more than just mere physical objects to me. I have a relationship to books that few people could probably understand.
From a very young age, I spent a considerable amount of time occupying myself with books. While I couldn't always count on people, books were one of the few constants in my life. I knew I was loved....but my family members always had so much going on with their lives that oftentimes I felt invisible. Books were a friendly comfort and escape from the loneliness I felt so much of the time (Interestingly, both my grandfather and my mother loved books/reading.....so in a weird way, I also felt a little more connected to them with this shared passion.)
With books, I could dive into a whole other world of people, places, and possibilities. I could pretend I was the center of attention. I could be the heroine. I could empathize with the characters and their struggles. Sometimes it even seemed like a book was specifically written just for me, as if the writer could somehow get inside my head like no one in my 'real life' ever could.
If you were to ask me about a particular book I've read, most of the time I can recall a very vivid memory attached to the book....whether that be where I was while reading a particular book, a book reminding me of a particular person/relationship or time in my life, what year I read the book, what was going on in my life at the time while reading the specific book, and my interests/curiosity (in life, genres, topics/issues).
Throughout my life, books have been an extension of myself....my personality, my identity. They are a reflection of the very heart and soul of me. They have also been my closest and dearest companions. With books, I feel connected to myself and the world at large more than I ever have with just people or words on a computer screen.
Online books don't provide meaningfulness, symbolism, or unique memories. You can't smell the newness or oldness of an online book. You can't touch the pages and take a trip down memory lane in your mind. You can't place it on your real bookshelf. There's just something very sacred and intimate about 'old fashioned' books.
If there's ever a day in the future where 'real' actual books become obsolete, I don't know that I would be able to handle it....a 'death' I could never stop grieving.
I could care less what happens to a corporate bookstore, but what I do care about is the future of 'physical books.' My concern is that with such rapid advances and trends in technology, there may come a day when physical books become obsolete. And if that day comes, that may bring with it a grief I may not be able to bear.
This may sound bizarre to most people, but books are more than just mere physical objects to me. I have a relationship to books that few people could probably understand.
From a very young age, I spent a considerable amount of time occupying myself with books. While I couldn't always count on people, books were one of the few constants in my life. I knew I was loved....but my family members always had so much going on with their lives that oftentimes I felt invisible. Books were a friendly comfort and escape from the loneliness I felt so much of the time (Interestingly, both my grandfather and my mother loved books/reading.....so in a weird way, I also felt a little more connected to them with this shared passion.)
With books, I could dive into a whole other world of people, places, and possibilities. I could pretend I was the center of attention. I could be the heroine. I could empathize with the characters and their struggles. Sometimes it even seemed like a book was specifically written just for me, as if the writer could somehow get inside my head like no one in my 'real life' ever could.
If you were to ask me about a particular book I've read, most of the time I can recall a very vivid memory attached to the book....whether that be where I was while reading a particular book, a book reminding me of a particular person/relationship or time in my life, what year I read the book, what was going on in my life at the time while reading the specific book, and my interests/curiosity (in life, genres, topics/issues).
Throughout my life, books have been an extension of myself....my personality, my identity. They are a reflection of the very heart and soul of me. They have also been my closest and dearest companions. With books, I feel connected to myself and the world at large more than I ever have with just people or words on a computer screen.
Online books don't provide meaningfulness, symbolism, or unique memories. You can't smell the newness or oldness of an online book. You can't touch the pages and take a trip down memory lane in your mind. You can't place it on your real bookshelf. There's just something very sacred and intimate about 'old fashioned' books.
If there's ever a day in the future where 'real' actual books become obsolete, I don't know that I would be able to handle it....a 'death' I could never stop grieving.
