I’ve always been sort of an avid reader but I have never fit in with any of the avid reader crowds. I remember times sitting with other avid readers. They would talk about things such as the smell of the pages, the feel of the book, and the allure of the physical thing. I only cared about the words within the book. The book was actually more of a bother. I had to find somewhere to keep it. I had to make sure it wasn’t going to get damaged. I even had to ensure that it was protected.The ‘book’ was never what I was after but the information inside of it.
Soon the internet became something that replaced the book. It didn’t take long. If I wanted information on something I looked it up on wikipedia. If I want casual reading their were a plethora of websites for that as well. The book was something I had to make myself pick up instead of enjoying. I never understood why and I still knew that books were somehow a necessity in my life. It became almost like a chore. I know why now.
Really the internet never replaced books. The internet is a useful source of real time information but like most things that aren’t books the information simply skims the surface. Its nearly impossible to get all the information that is in a book onto a website that I want to read. Sure there is project gutenberg and google books but those rise another problem. The fact that my computer is far more of a social device than a reading experience.
Reading is a unique thing. Its a purely solitary experience while you are reading and the best books illicit a social experience afterwards. Some of my favorite discussions in school on any level came from a book. It is strange how many people can see a book from a different view. Things that seemed obvious to me and had little to no effect emotionally or mentally can bring about an entirely different response in another person. A book is one of the view things that truthfully shows not only the point of view of a character but the point of view of the person reading. Movies, tv shows, and even other forms of art such as video games seem to force you into a black and white point of view. This person is evil this person is good. One of my best examples of this is the Iliad and its rather bad movie adaptation Troy. In the Iliad, their are epic duels between men like Hector and Ajax where in Troy there is no question of the hierarchy of skill in the warriors. Achilles is better than Hector and Hector is better than Ajax. In the book Paris is a lover but also a skilled archer but in the movie Hector can be seen as little more than an incompetent fool that happens to fall in love.
The computer doesn’t allow me that moment of solitude. I am always checking email in the middle of a book or someone will message me randomly and I will feel somehow compelled to reply. No book read on a computer can give me the solitude I need. Sure I could just turn my wireless off or ignore those messages. For me though, it is not what the device is made to do. This computer is made for productivity, gaming, movies, entertainment, and most of all communication. After all, that is what the internet has succeeded in doing, connecting us all or as some us would say making the world smaller. No one boasts the computer as a reading device but instead as an informational device and there is a difference.
The problem is that the computer did change me. Actually, I can’t say it changed me because I grew up in the digital age. I had my first internet connected computer when I was in middle school. A 28.8k dinosaur by today’s standards. It wasn’t long until a 56k modem replaced it. High speed came in high school and I have rarely looked back since then. My whole house is networked now. Computers are hooked up to my TV, they play my movies, they contact my friends, they coordinate my schedules, they do nearly… everything. They even shop for me. The only time I go to a store is for a direly necessary purchase or food. The rest of my purchases are done online. I go weeks or months at a time without visiting a brick or mortar store besides the grocery store. I am by all sense of the phrase a product of the information age.
The book, until recently, was something the information age for some reason couldn’t get a hold of. Its words are information, no doubt, but information of a much higher sense. It wasn’t the quick hits of 140 characters like twitter. Books were designed to be read for hours not moments like most websites. Books are not meant to be jumped from. Books were never meant to be read on an LCD screen with two thousand distractions flying around you at the same time. Sure I could buy a book online but I always felt it needed to be more like an mp3 or a game. Something that steam and devices like the Zune and Ipod changed radically. I don’t even own a CD anymore. Heck, when I was first getting into music, really into music, napster had hit big. I didn’t grow up on CDs (partly because I got into music later than most kids) I grew up on MP3s. I never developed an attachment to a physical medium in the CD. I simply wanted the music.
Finally, a couple weeks ago, I got what I never knew I wanted. My parents, who probably know me better than anyone else, purchased a Nook for me. It wasn’t exactly a surprise gift but it was an infinitely awesome one. Suddenly the information age had wrapped its way around a book. E-ink screens gave it a screen that I could finally look at for hours. I could finally build my library just like with mp3s and most of all I got the books instantly without having to go to a store.
Finally, I am reading again. Some 600 pages in a few days. I’d just like to thank information age for finally tackling the oldest form of information in existence. It took them quite a while and still there are issues. Many publishers won’t put their books on sites like Barnes and Noble’s ebook site or even on Amazon’s kindle. Why? I have no idea. I’m sure they will cite something like charges or profits. Can it really be that hard? You are no longer having to pay for the raw materials of the book. I really don’t care if you e-publish the book yourself and put it on your website for sale. Simply make it available. If you don’t embrace the digital age the digital age will find a way to make your product available. If you don’t believe me ask the music industry.
When I read reviews for the nook many people recommended waiting for Apple’s iTablet (now called the iPad). The iPad doesn’t get it either. Don’t get me wrong, it may be a great device for gaming, communication, browsing, and other things, but it is not a book reading device. I’m sure that it will have the distractions and the things that pull you away from the book just like a computer. In fact, I know it does. The library feature looks cool but it borrows far too much from the CD world or the video game world. These are places where the cover matters, but here, in the book world, I could care less about a cover. Sure the nook shows me covers if I want them and its a nice extra but it is not a main feature by any stretch of the imagination. The nook ( and probably the Kindle too but I don’t own that device) gets it right. It gets just enough of a combination of the digital age and the allure of books to satisfy a guy like me.
I get the solitary feel that I need while reading a book. There is no twitter or facebook message waiting to pull me away from the enjoyment of the words. I’m sure with its Android OS that I may eventually get these awesome apps that allow for twitter to pop up and so fourth. To me that is the beauty of an e-ink screen. I have no desire to read twitter or facebook on one and I never will. The e-ink screen was made for books as it should be. That is exactly what I will use it for.
The nook also made every attempt to get the social aspect of books intact as well with its lendme feature. Now, the publishers may not jump on board, because like the music industry, they don’t get the digital age still. I can’t blame that on the nook makers though. They definitely tried as hard as they could. The lendme feature allows me to let other nook owners borrow books just like they could when I went out and bought paperback. One of my most borrowed books of all time is the fairtax book, and with it I have convinced a small army of friends and acquaintances to support one of my most fervently wanted political causes. I actually don’t understand why publishers won’t get on board with this feature. They don’t fight it with normal books.
The nook is one of the best devices I’ve received in ages. If for no other reason than… I’m reading again. Hopefully, this and the kindle will propel us into a new age… the information age now featuring books!
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