Friday, November 04, 2005

End of the book?

BBC NEWS | Technology | Microsoft scans British Library
Reading stufff like this makes you wonder how long the printed book has got left. But the book has a great resilience, and I can't imagine a time when it would be more pleasant to sit under a tree on a summer's day with a hand held electronic device rather than a physical volume with pages.
Initiatives such as this will be important for research, but won't, in my estimation, signal the end for the traditional book.

4 comments:

kat said...

I own a number of ebooks. I download them, read them on the PDA and if I like them, I go over to Amazon and order the real thing. I think it is a good idea to have everything stored electronically but as you say I don't think the end of the printed book is in sight.

Rob said...

...and I'm sure reading so much on a screen is bad for the eyes...
And books don't need a power supply either...

kat said...

Have you tried reading a printed book at night without a lightbulb? :-) I can read my PDA under the covers. I prefer real books though.

Rob said...

Back to candles! When you think about it, most of the great books and great reads have been done by candlelight - basically all pre 20th century literature.