I plan to make this an ongoing series. This will be very easy, because I can come up with infiinite reasons as to why ebooks are ultimately and irrevocably awful. I hate ebooks. I despise them with every ounce of my being. I think this is because they tear my soul apart: I am a secret geek and I covertly covet a lovely shiny iPad with its little app squares like polished cut gems and clever touch-screens that make it look like you're turning a real page and its smug little rounded edges that make everyone in a five mile radiance want to avoid and then kill you.
But, if I'm anything, I'm completely grounded in physicality, and I don't think I'm ever going to be able to give up the smell of a new book, the perfume of an old one, the blank margins to scribble in, the pages I can stick an old train ticket into or lining up a bunch of colourful spines on a shelf. Also, I'm very poor and I like reading in the bath - I can't afford to hold £700 above a tub of soapy water.
But, if I'm anything, I'm completely grounded in physicality, and I don't think I'm ever going to be able to give up the smell of a new book, the perfume of an old one, the blank margins to scribble in, the pages I can stick an old train ticket into or lining up a bunch of colourful spines on a shelf. Also, I'm very poor and I like reading in the bath - I can't afford to hold £700 above a tub of soapy water.
ANYWAY. Reasons why eBooks are Rubbish #1:
You can't do this with an old iPad.
You can't do this with an old iPad.
Suck on that, Steve Jobs!!!!
Treehugger.com has lots more brilliant uses for old books here.
3 comments:
What a great use for a book! My book is coming out in the States for the Kindle. Still not sure if I approve or disapprove of this idea. Good thing - lots more people might read it. Bad thing - they'll miss the smell of the paper, the lovely tactile cover, its spine nestled snugly next to the others on their shelf - they do have bookshelves don't they? eek! What if they don't......
I don't understand houses without bookcases/shelves. There's something very odd about a person who doesn't even have two cookery books to splatter with sauce in the kitchen, or even a stack of dusty paperbacks in the bedroom...
And your book covers are very pretty, how will the Kindle ever recreate cover design?
So I found your blog via the Book Blogs 'latest post' discussion. And I agree with you on the ethics - but even more so on the straightforward pleasure of a real book, the extraspecial delights of a particularly beautiful one.
And I love the picture.
What makes me wary is that I'm the kind of person who didn't really see why I'd ever want a phone that does anything more than phone and text. And now I can't get enough of my iphone and the whole web in my hand. And I know myself well enough to know that every time I see a kindle on the tube I start to wonder... just last week I was flanked on both sides by kindle readers and had to come home and make a point of touching and looking at real books on real shelves.
Great blog btw.
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