What Will Become of Books?
Posted: Monday, November 29, 2010
by George Stay
The first thing that hit was the mustiness of the air.
The second thing was the disorganization. The entry was jammed with piles of records and stacked stereo equipment. The rest of the place one large, open building was an array of tables covered completely with more records, with boxes filling every inch of space underneath.
There was just enough space to walk in between the tables. So I did.
Intimidated by the place, I made my way down the nearest aisle. After getting my bearings, I realized I was in the jazz aisle. I looked for artists I like and then moved onto to what was the rock aisles. I checked out the names of groups on the dividers and recognized acts from the 1950s on up to the 1990s. Some were bigger name groups like the Rolling Stones and U2, but many of them were bands that made a brief, small splash and were heard from no more.
I found one section of Michigan acts, something I knew he collected, and called him over. He'd been through that stack before, he told me, and there were no bands in there that interested him. I even found a couple of rare one-record Michigan groups, which I know he collects, but he already had the two albums I found.
The place also had several aisles of used CDs which, ironically, cost three to four times what the owner wanted for some of the unique vinyl he was selling. I was tempted, for a brief moment, to buy an album of a Michigan band that had one single back in the 1980s, then disappeared from the scene. It was only $5, but in the end I left it there. I still have a turntable and could play it but knew that most likely I would not.
After all, it was just a few years ago that I got rid of all of my vinyl save a handful of albums I really do listen to from time to rare time. There was no need to add anything more.
I was not tempted to purchase a CD because of the prices. But even if the prices had been like the vinyl, I doubt I would have jumped. Like so many people, I have succumbed to the lure of the Internet, getting most of my music online.
The only place I have been to that was as disorganized and, at the same time, enticing was a used bookstore I visit periodically, Books are on shelves, but they also are stacked in piles against the walls, in the doorway, everywhere you look. It is both intimidating and alluring. Somewhere in there could be a treasure I must have. But do I want to spend the time looking for it?
So when the music resale's shop owner told me turntables are making a comeback, that even regular retailers like Best Buy and ABC Warehouse are now selling them, I cringed a little. Because the trend today is to get your books online now. Someone told me recently that their library not only allows you to request a book via the Internet, or to avoid fines by re-checking a book out that same way, but they also will send you the book online, so you can read it with your Kindle, Nook or iPad.
I worry that one day bound and printed books will be like the vinyl records I saw on that resale music shop an anachronism, a pile of detritus, a look back at a different time and a different way of life. A collector's item, as it were.
I have some old books that I keep just because they are old. But I pray that the published, printed tome will not disappear from the landscape, replaced by digital, online books. I want to always be able to carry a book in my hand, keep my place with a piece of paper or whatever I have handy, or even fold the edge of a page. I want to be able to underline a favorite passage or write a note in the margins, knowing I will see my own ink alongside the writer's efforts when I retrieve that volume in years to come. You simply can't do that with a digital version.
When my son had found his treasures, he went to the counter to find out what they would cost. The owner went through the stack and at one point announced that my son probably didn't want this one particular record. It was a rare 78rpm recording of blues acts done in Detroit. The starting price for that one record was over $1,000. A similar one had sold recently for more than $3,000.
He decided not to get that one, or many of the others. As we stepped back outside, I breathed fresh air again, and prayed once more that books do not follow the same path that music has taken.
At least not in my lifetime.
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More commentsI also hope so, George. I love reading real books; the tactile, the look, the whole experience of them. Much as I appreciate how technology can improve life, I don't like how it's taking everything over.Jennifer, it does frighten me. And anger me too. And yet I consider how people like my son -- a generation removed -- are keeping vinyl alive and well and I realize that someone will make sure books get printed on paper. I just hope they keep doing it as long as I am alive.
Books are so precious to me. This is a good and well written article. Thanks...Regards, ChiradeepChiradeep, thank you so much. Your comments mean a lot to me. I respect you as a fellow writer.
Hi George,I mostly agree with your book sentiments - I simply love the smell and feel of books and have spent many hours happily in the library and book stores!
However, I also own and absolutely LOVE a Nook. The Nook has features that allow me to underline passages and make side notes as I read. When I "close" a book in the middle, I can push a "reading now" button and go back to my last page exactly. Then there is the whole portability factor. In the past year, I've been making frequent trips to help care for my elderly parents in another state - no more having to decide which books to take along and/or being limited by luggage space on how many books to take. I can take my entire library in my purse!
So, I have to say I am now firmly straddling the line between old and new. I read more now than I used to, AND, I buy more books because the e versions are cheaper and I don't have to worry about storage space. I really think eBooks will enhance the publishing/book industry, not hurt it.
Enjoyed your thoughts,Jean, I hope you are right. Maybe I'm just being an old curmudgeon, but I still prefer the feeling of a book in my hands. The day may come when I, too, find the convenience and portability impossible to ignore, but it has not come yet. Still, you make some compelling arguments that are worthy of deep consideration. I shall be pondering your thoughts. Thanks for sharing them.
As a lifelong educator, I recall with poignant ironic pain the audible groans and small noises of extreme displeasure that my students in all classes exuded when I excitedly and loudly announced,
"And now, with the power invested in me, in this state of intoxication, I pronounce you, pupil and book!"
I had monitors come to the windows where books were piled high to distribute one to each senior high school English student.
These were American novels, books of Bradbury's science fiction, World Religion anthologies, English Literature Anthologies, American plays and Shakespeare.
This, our next generation sat groaning and miserable, eighteen year olds trapped in neat rows behind their graffitti covered wooden desks.
I could leave piles of novels or Shakespeare plays, waiting on those window sills undistributed, waiting for my teaching approach to those books, and no copies would ever vanish or be pilfered; assigned texts were clearly disliked, deigned as sour uninviting props.
I reminded these pupils who groaned and suffered aloud that they should be very proud to BE students, that no other strata of society regularly came home and returned back, carrying books, that soon enough they would be relegated to be wage slaves, working every day to get bread for the bologna and bologna for the bread.
They were unimpressed and unhappy, "Do we have to bring these books, EVERY DAY!?"
"What will become of books?" is a pointed query, given America's dumbed down generations' love for their "Idiot Box T.V." and their computer screens, given their disdain for any imparted wisdoms within the dancing linear lines inside of books.
PaulPaul, I hope it never comes to that. In fact, I believe it is thanks to websites like this one that the written word may well be more alive today than ever before. And it is with relish that I have watched my two sons and my brother, two of which grew up as avid non-readers, take to books and reading with passion and relish. I just pray that society keeps a place for the written, printed book to go along with this new wave of digital e-books. Because I think the written, printed version remains my preference. Thanks for sharing your story and your comments.Your article inspired me to pen one of my own with this paragraph as its pith; many thank you's!
Paul
I too worry about the disappearance of books (paper). It just wouldn't feel right not having a beat up old book with dog ears in my hand or on my dresser. But it kinda seems like that's how it will be sooner than later--thanks for a great article.
SteveSteve, I can picture that sight right now. Thanks for sharing and for reading my article.
Thanks for a great article. The only way to keep books alive is to teach our children the joy of reading them. I love used bookstores, not just for the better prices and rare finds, but I love reading a book and wondering about who read it before me, why they gave it in at the store (I am a hoarder of note and my home looks a bit like the store you describe!), and where they were when they read it. I particularly love old bookmarks. So many stories to tell about those - boarding pass ticket stubs, shopping lists, homemade children's gifts - I have a collection of those as well! My father is the vinyl collector, and he too believes that vinyl is making a comeback. I have my old vinyls - artists that my children have never heard of, but I'm determined that they will know the old authors - my daughter (11) is reading 'Anne of Green Gables' now - and loving it!Anne, I read to both of my sons until, well, one of them was in junior high. And now they are both readers too. I have to keep myself from hoarding books, it is just this urge to keep everything I've ever read because, well, I get attached to the book and the characters. But then I think that someone else would like that experience too, and so I give it away.
Hi George, honestly, I love visiting old-books fair because they are old enough. I'd been searching for Thomas William Simpson's old books but in vain. They can be found at Amazon anytime of course as I am a fussy reader but the second- hand bookstores here sell mostly unreadable (to me) books.Hilda, that is the problem. Much like the resale record store, you can look through a whole lof of stuff you don't care for to find that one thing you want. That's why I sometimes am intimidated by my favorite used book store. I know I might find a treasure, but, then again, I might not.That's exactly my problem ! Digging my head inside a rummage sale half a day and still came out empty-handed. Even I don't understand myself sometimes. (Grin)
No no, money is not a problem but the books are !
I used to stop by secondhand bookstores once in a while just to take a look at the rare collection on display and if I was lucky I would find something really precious to read. Thanks for reminding me again and bringing my old attachment back. I really cherish books and my shelves are stacked with them.Hmm, sounds like a familiar problem. I suppose that is why we all are writers, eh? Because we all were and are avid readers. Thanks for your comment and I hope maybe I spurred you to consider adding to your book collection.Surely you did George. It's always a pleasure to smell the paper, listen to soft sound of the paper as you turn the pages of your much cherished book. You can never experience the depth of concentration when you are sitting on a computer. Books will always remain books. Your article is surely inspiring. :-)
I identified with your love for books.I have some favorites that I keep, pick them up from time to time, thumb through them, re read and re mark them with a different color marker.Those will stay with me.In my travels I hit the used book stores. I get lost in them.I hope they don't do away with books either.Linda, that is why I do too. I keep a few treasured books around and let the others go so that someone else can enjoy them. Thanks for reading and commenting.
I like books myself George, interesting article thanks for sharing.David, I pray you never lose your affection for books. They are a treasure and a wonderful escape into other worlds and lives.
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