Everybody seems to have had an opinion on "Whither the book?" "Is reading dead?" "Does techonology spell the doom of paper?" since 2007. R&BLers have their opinions, too. Kindle vs. trad media is a popular debate topic on these pages. I have several opinons of my own.
1) Tablets will feature full screen ads in order to generate revenue and dedicated reading devices will go by the wayside, giving way to them.
2) Textbooks will increasingly disappear from classrooms -- classrooms will, too! -- and be replaced by online courses and online texts that students will access via their tablets.
3) America's literary heritage will be preserved digitally and available to everyone fia the DLAP, which will mostly be free, but some access will be behind a pay wall.
4) Reading will allow increased "skimmy-dipping" as it becomes increasingly interactive, increasingly multi-media, auditory, even 3-dimensional, and will enjoy a resurgence that will save the publishing industry, but not as we know it.
5) Independent publishing will overtake corporate publishing, which will exist primarily as an advertising medium. Independently published content will be increasingly serialized so that a chapter-a-day arrives to you cell phone, or other device.
Please turn the page.
Jeff Bezos of Amazon built a better book store, then he followed it up by building a better book, which he once described as "the last bastion of analog." The revolution in reading began in November of 2007 when the first Kindle dedicated reading device was released to (some would say "on") the public. The secret of its success? In a word, Kindle's inherent "bookishness" of design: It has the dimensions of a paperback; the edges bevel like a hardbound; it is a quiet, unobtrusive device, unlike a computerized one; it uses e-Ink technology which produces sharp fonts that are sizable; it features a display that is page-sized but can be alternated between landscape and portrait orientation; it "turns" pages quickly; it can be bookmarked (a little bent over tab appears, just like a paper page would have), it can be annotated (just like a Medieval monk would do); and best of all it can be many more books than one in one.
But most revolutionary of all, the Kindle ("named to evoke the crackling ignition of knowledge") is the Amazon bookstore in your hand. The reader no longer has to physically go anywhere to get a traditional book -- not to the shelf, not to the library, and not to the store. In the very near future it will also be your public library in your hand, and one day in the future, it will be the literary world in your hand as the DLAP and other country's digital library projects take shape. All things literary are no longer just cheaper and more portable -- what Gutenberg's press did for them -- they are now wireless and weightless.
Books have undergone a transfiguration. Once objects of the temporal world, they now occupy the virtual world, existing more like spirits than things, as ephemeral as the thoughts responsible for their (non-)existence. If ever literature and the book were thought the most divine invention of man, now is the time.
The Future of Reading appears to be not just safe but resurging and burgeoning if Facebook is indicative. "I Hate Reading" has 305,105 likers; "books" has close to 2 million likers. As long as imagination, curiosity, and the desire for solitude of mind endure as part of our human make-up, a taste for reading will too.
Further Reading:
The Future of Reading
The Future of Reading II
The Future of Reading III
The Future of Reading IV
Announcements
Look for a new series, Pros and Contests on writing contests brought to you by Alexi Hershey, WED NOON ET. That means "Kalliope" diaries will appear WED around either 10 AM or 2 PM once this series becomes part of our Weekly Magazine Schedule.
Dichro Gal appears to have "dropped off the map" and has not written diaries for either of her existing series in two weeks. If anyone would like to take over, please message me. [See Weekly Magazine Schedule below for series names and slots.]
I am in negotiation with princss6 for a new mini-series examining the works of Jonathan Kozol under a community book club format. Please message her if you wish to participate. The suggested first book will be Shame of the Nation.
R&BLers Team Up for the Troops fund drive closes at midnight tonight (possible extension to May 15th?).
e-Readers & Book Lovers Book Club
Talk about a 5-way tie (including "other")! C'mon guys, help me out. . .Get over to the diary and VOTE to break the tie so we can get moving. Thanks! [HINT: I feel like a mystery. You?]
Readers & Book Lovers Series Schedule
DAY |
TIME (EST/EDT) |
Series Name |
Editor(s) |
SUN |
3:00 PM |
Science, Math, and Statistics Books |
plf515 |
SUN |
9:30 PM |
SciFi/Fantasy Book Club |
quarkstomper |
MON |
8:00 AM |
And the Winner Is. . . |
88kathy |
MON |
11:00 AM |
eReader Cafe |
You? |
TUE |
Noon |
The Mad Logophile (bi-weekly) |
Purple Priestess |
TUES |
8:00 PM |
Readers & Book Lovers Newsletter |
Limelite |
WED |
7:30 AM |
WAYR? |
plf515 |
WED |
8:00 PM |
Bookflurries: Bookchat |
cfk |
THU |
11:00AM |
Books for Young Adults and Children (BYAC) |
You? |
THU |
8:00PM |
Write On! |
SensibleShoes |
FRI |
9:00 AM |
Books That Changed My Life |
etbnc, aravir |
SAT |
9:00 PM |
Books So Bad They're Good |
Ellid |
Intermittent Diaries |
SUN |
? |
Justice, Not Charity |
Runaway Rose, allie123 |
NOTE: Though not part of R&BLers Weekly Magazine Series, please look for "Indigo Kalliope: Poems From the Left" by various authors republished here every WED either 11 AM or 2PM ET (TBA) by
aravir.
FURTHER NOTE: Beginning May 16th a new series by billsha, Favorite Books & Authors MON 8PM ET.
Other than that, nothing's happening!