So, I was reading the news the other day, and there's a tech guru (Nicholas Negroponte) who figures that the conventional paper book will cease to exist in 5 years. He says that getting cheap laptops to children in developing countries is a far more efficient way of increasing literacy. E-readers, the iPad, laptops, etc... All of these will supplant the actual physical paper book. Or will it??
A few years back... they told us that computers would create a paperless society... Uh-huh, right... sure... That didn't happen!! And while cds are on their last legs apparently, vinyl records are making a comeback... So who knows... I do see the argument against paper books. They use a lot of trees... Mind you, so do newspapers... Books are heavy to ship, costly to manufacture, etc. They take up a lot of warehouse space... Could we actually get to the point where our e-readers are as familiar to us as a book. There is something to be said for curling up with a good book on a cold winter's night... But curling up with an e-book reader? Mind you... I was on a trip recently and, from experience, took 4 books with me, 3 of which I finished and 1 of which I started... All for a week away from home. With an e-book reader, my bags could be so much lighter!
So, is this guy an accurate prophet?? Some books might hold onto life... large-scale photo books... cookbooks... etc... Sort of like with film... medium & large scale film is still around... but 35 mm has bit the dust...
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