Do you read books? Have your book-reading habits changed since the advent of the Web, PDF books, e-book readers? With the Web I read as much, if not more, than before but I do read fewer books. But I still love books. Just pickier, perhaps. Haven't embraced this e-book reader yet but I'm interested.
In this half-hour keynote address by John Donatich, Director of Yale University Press, (YouTube Video) the topic is the future of books. Donatich isn't the most dynamic speaker out there but it's still a worthwhile listen to find out what at least one publishing industry insider thinks about the changing world of books -- both the printed and electronic versions.
Books vs. E-Books
Curling up in bed with a good computer just wouldn’t do the trick. Books don’t break down. They are very portable, and you don’t need a battery or outlet to read them. They are affordable, and you can borrow them for free from the local library. Printed books won’t become a relic of the past.
Books and other printed matter are certainly still important but curling up in bed with a single long-battery life computer that holds 1000’s of books plus a range of current newspapers, magazines, and Internet feeds, and doesn’t lose your place in any of these when you fall asleep is becoming more and more attractive as a way to read and enjoy literature. It’s also easier to take notes on the computer than to hunt for a pen or pencil and note pad while you are reading. Modern readers in their leather lovely leather holders are even tough enough not to break when they fall on the floor after you go to sleep. Clearly the future for reading is digital and the first generation readers we see now are not nearly as good as those bendable screen, video compatible, color-based technologies that will soon replace them. Within 20 years book printing will be dead and we’ll wonder what all the fuss was about and why it took so long to replace such an outmoded, static and cumbersome technology.