What Will Happen to the Wall of Books?
When I was growing up, I’d sometimes picture myself in the future, an adult with a place of my own. It was a pleasurable dream that involved me as a successful writer, in a peaceful room with plenty of light. And invariably, this dream would involve a wonderful wall of books. I pictured one of those old wooden walls and maybe a ladder with wheels on it. The scene with Beauty and the Beast when Belle finds herself in a massive library was pretty much my favorite moment in a movie for a long time. I think a lot of readers out there had or have the same dream; there’s something magical, peaceful, and deeply important for devoted readers to imagine the slow acquisition of books and their presence in a home.
All this has, of course, gotten me thinking and wondering about the future. I’m now the owner of a Kindle, and I’m enjoying it enormously; it allows me to buy books at just a little less, while always having a book to read, even when I’m traveling or away for weeks at a time. It was a lifesaver during my recent job as a camp chaperone and it’s wonderful if you’re a commuter and take subways or buses on a regular basis. But it means that whenever I want to buy a new paper book, I find myself hesitating — shouldn’t I just get this on my Kindle? Do I need the actual physical object? Does it make me feel like I’ve really read the book more if I read a paper version? Is my retention better with paper? And selfishly and on a purely aesthetic level, don’t I want to fill my apartment with books and be the kind of person whose apartment is filled with books?
The process of change is slow, and we’re at a very early stage. But in looking at the collapse of Borders this week, I can’t help wondering whether the delight in books as physical artistic objects might be a fading phenomenon. Or books might become an elite, artisanal object rather than a mass-produced and highly common thing. We might begin to treasure the few physical books we have, while somewhere alone on a shelf a slim hard drive is holding the world’s texts.
What do you think will happen to books as physical objects in the future? And has your vision of books’ place in your home changed? Personally, I still imagine having a wall of books — but by buying about 50% of my books in a digital format, I’m slowing the process of acquisition. It might take me a lot longer than I first thought.
One problem I foresee is the ever-changing nature of digital storage. We’ve gone from floppy discs to the Cloud, & there is no guarantee an “old” Kindle or Nook will be compatible with some new technology in 5 (or fewer) years.
What I’m really asking is whether books on a digital platform are ‘collectible’–i.e., something you can keep for years and years in the original format you purchased? What if the Kindle ‘breaks’? Where is your book collection then? Will the makers gladly reload every book you (swear) was on it?
While I never specifically envisioned a wall of books in my home, I’ve always had a lot, & now I find myself with FAR more of them than I can store! I use the municipal library 90% of the time & still I must offload a leather couch just to put up 2 more huge bookcases to store the books I manage to acquire as easily as dust bunnies.
I think books, especially paperbacks, are a perfect medium. Small(ish), packable, sturdy & portable. If you’re going to be away for several weeks, just get a paperback of ‘War & Peace’ or ‘Les Miserables’ (and a magnifying glass).
In any event, don’t worry, BLH. If you are a reader, you just cannot escape having tons of books lying around your home, often with no idea how you came by them…
L&K, MaryB (PS–I, too, lust after a ladder on wheels in a stately reading room & library of my own!)
( PPS–on an episode of “Cribs,” Mobey showed MTV his modest loft in NYC. “And here is where I keep my books,” he said, showing cases under the stairs jammed with books.
“I’ve noticed, on this show,” he continued, “that lots of performers don’t show you where they keep their books.” I found this a kind remark. Though I, too, would be genuinely puzzled by a person who had NO books at all in the house.)
I’ve grown up in the same house my whole life, and we have an insane amount of bookcases (and it just keeps growing!) So I’ve always had the physical books with me, and though I can see how convenient digital books would be, I think I’ll need to be surrounded by books I own in my next house too.
And besides, one of the things I enjoy the most about reading is that it gives my eyes a rest from all the computer and TV screens they put up with each day.
Blair, I think your piece raises some interesting questions. You might want to read Jason Epstein’s two recent essays in the New York Review of Books addressing the future of traditional print books, as opposed to e-books.
At one point, you write, “We might begin to treasure the few physical books we have, while somewhere alone on a shelf a slim hard drive is holding the world’s texts.”
In this connection, I would like to paraphrase (and expand upon) some of the points made by Epstein in his articles. He points out that an electronic medium, i.e., a “slim hard drive,” is an infinitely fragile, tenuous medium for preserving one book, let alone a library. At the push of a button or the click of a mouse — or with some other mishap that might erode a drive’s memory — the book or books stored there are no more. This must be an uncomfortable thought for readers, much less authors. If you are an author who has spent years of your life writing a book, how would you feel about that book, the end result of so much intensive and (sometimes) agonizing labor, having such a tenuous, temporal existence?
Traditional (print) books may be less technologically sophisticated, but they have inherent advantages over e-books, which, again according to Epstein, do not and for the forseeable future will not represent more than a small fraction of publishing houses’ income. I think that all the above bodes well for the survival of the traditional medium.
– Michael Washburn