I do not care for these digital books
Yes, the words are the same, whether perceived on paper or on a small, illuminated screen. But the experience is not. One can read “One Hundred Years of Solitude” on a Kindle or an iPad, but one cannot see, hear, feel and smell the story in the same way. I’m unlikely to race to the sofa, there to nuzzle an electronic gizmo, with the same anticipation as with a book. Or to the hammock with the same relish I would with a new magazine. Somehow, napping with a gadget blinking notice of its dwindling power doesn’t hold the same appeal as falling asleep in the hammock with your paperback opened to where you dozed off.
This is not mysterious. Paper, because it is real, provides an organic connection to our natural world: The tree from whence the paper came; the sun, water and soil that nourished the tree. By contrast, a digital device is alien, man-made, hard and cold to human flesh.
Future generations may never know the satisfaction of print, nor, likely, miss it — a recognition that is both sad and startling. One of my earliest and fondest memories is of reading with my father, who taught me not only to love words but also to appreciate the smell of a book. Even today, I judge a book by its smell and am always surprised when others don’t employ this obvious method of criticism.
Blowback
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I love my Kindle. It’s a perfectly good product, perhaps superior to a normal book. Stop whining.
Kamccand on December 30, 2012 at 9:49 PM
Little late to this debate uh stupid errr Kathleen?
Socmodfiscon on December 30, 2012 at 9:49 PM
Good riddance to bad news Chatty Kathy.
I have noticed that stink as well. I don’t think its passing is an occasion for sadness.
sharrukin on December 30, 2012 at 9:51 PM
yeah, what’s the point of having 100 books at your fingertips, when you can stack them up all at your nightstand ? And what’s with not needing a light on the bed annoying your spouse to no end when she’s trying to sleep ?
I was skeptical at first, now the Kindle Fire HD is my night-time buddy. sorry, honey – you left me a long time ago for the original Kindle Fire . . .
williampeck1958 on December 30, 2012 at 9:53 PM
Umm.. Kathleen Parker knows how to read?? This shocks me.
Illinidiva on December 30, 2012 at 9:53 PM
I wish for a world where a book is judged by it’s content not the material of it’s cover.
Oldnuke on December 30, 2012 at 9:57 PM
Yeah, I smelled your stories a long time ago, Parker.
John the Libertarian on December 30, 2012 at 9:59 PM
No book has to go out of print, you don’t need to lug heavy books, and you can do research without roaming around a library. I’ll take those advantages over the smell and touch of a paper book any day.
Baerwulf on December 30, 2012 at 10:02 PM
What? My kindle has hundreds of books on it, and I can carry every single one of them wherever I go.
That Mother Gaia paper is washed, molded, stressed, chopped, reformed and then printed with so many chemicals that any connection to soil and the picturesque Shire are long long gone by the time the book reaches her hands.
Bishop on December 30, 2012 at 10:03 PM
Um, and less real because of it? Seriously? Somebody needs an honest editor. I’m sure at some point cultures who relied on oral storytelling traditions felt the same way about stone and chisel, or parchment and ink, or what had they.
I love my Fire precisely because I love books. It lets me read more of them without having to lug them in my shoulder bag (which gets old when toting the likes of Les Mis and LotR).
mrsknightley on December 30, 2012 at 10:04 PM
Oops – sorry, Bishop. Well said.
mrsknightley on December 30, 2012 at 10:05 PM
Come on. Buffy the Vampire Slayer covered this a decade ago.
“Knowledge should be smelly” -Giles.
Dr T on December 30, 2012 at 10:09 PM
What she really means is that she dont like ebooks because she cant impress people in the coffee shops and subway by pretending to read anything above “jack and jill” since people cant tell what book your reading with ebook
Dragoro on December 30, 2012 at 10:10 PM
Love the Kindle and the Google book. One for normal light, the other for low light (since the pad is backlit). And you can get classics for free! And if I can’t be looking at the screen, the devices will read the book to me! Just another article where Parker is wrong.
Oh and you don’t need a bookcase! I have to admit I wasn’t a believer until I tried it, so Kathleen, try it…or don’t who cares what you do or write.
Christian Conservative on December 30, 2012 at 10:11 PM
Speaking of, what’s President Obama
carrying around in order to be photographed withreading these days?rogerb on December 30, 2012 at 10:17 PM
This is not mysterious. A horse, because it is real, provides an organic connection to our natural world: The mare from whence the horse came; the sun, water and soil that nourished the young colt. By contrast, an automobile is alien, man-made, hard and cold to human flesh.
This is not mysterious. A mud hut, because it is real, provides an organic connection to our natural world: The loamy ground from whence the mud came; the sun, water and soil that nourished the mud. By contrast, a modern home is alien, man-made, hard and cold to human flesh.
This is not mysterious. Smoke signals, because they are real, provide an organic connection to our natural world: The simple fire from whence the smoke came; the weeds, bark and sticks that nourished the campfire. By contrast, a cellphone is alien, man-made, hard and cold to human flesh.
Come on, Kathy, give up all those modern things you enjoy and live the good life again. What’s that? What?
Bishop on December 30, 2012 at 10:22 PM
Except for searches, news, or interactive reading, I prefer books
I have bad eyes. There is no backlit display that is comfortable on my eyes, while good matte paper diffuses light and provides a lot of comfort
When I go off the computer screen, and focus my eyes on paper, the strain goes away. Engineers are hardly racing to correct it for a small customer base.
I always found paper was better for working math and science problems – analysis, not computations
Besides, Soylent Green is one of my favorite movies. The Exchange, where dusty books were kept documenting the older world made a big impression.
Computer data can be erased, or revised over time and search engines blocked or censored. Foolishly, I assumed searches would hold value, but searches on the same topic yield less and less of value. I have lost important references by assuming the search engines would remain honest
A book in hand is fixed, while electronic information is as good as whoever last touched it
Funny because a family in-law was involved in SRI development of the Internet, and developed the first mouse. Who would have guessed the electronic medium would become the easiest way to suppress information, and to obfuscate the theft
entagor on December 30, 2012 at 10:25 PM
I can relate…I still like to send/receive letters written in longhand on scented stationary. E-mails just aren’t the same.
lynncgb on December 30, 2012 at 10:29 PM
Reading books on my e-gadget has its place, but I am still about 10% electronic – 90% paper, tree killing, book reading. I still prefer the real books.
Whatever. The author of the article is hung up on aesthetics, but that is the last thing I am worried about. The real problems I have with e-books are:
1) It is next to impossible to loan or borrow an e-book from a friend. E-books are a publishing windfall for this reason.
2) I take copious notes with my non-fiction reading, then make future reference to my notes when I review the book. There are ways to do this with e-books, but it is very cumbersome. I would rather highlight and scribble in the margins.
3) You can’t read in the ol’ bathtub.
4) I do like for people to see what I am reading in public places. I especially love it when they interrupt my reading to say they have read it to, they we can have a conversation about it. This sometimes happens to me in airports, and I welcome meeting new reading friends. This ain’t happening with an e-book.
5) Similarly, I like snooping at friends’ bookshelves, and I like when they snoop at mine. I am not asking a friend to look at their Kindle.
6) Children love browsing bookshelves and thumbing through picture books. At least I know I did. My favorite was flipping through our set of family encyclopedias. Endless pictures, and a place for the curiosity to go wild. You need a big wall full of bookshelves, with loads of colorful covers to entice the eye. I simply cannot imagine children wanting to browse through a Kindle.
HeIsSailing on December 30, 2012 at 10:38 PM
As an author, I prefer–well, both.
The reports of the death of print publishing are greatly exaggerated. Ebook sales seem to have plateaued at about 25% of book sales (and that’s rounding up). My book is available in print and ebook because, well, it’s simple to provide a print-on-demand trade paperback thanks to Amazon’s CreateSpace (among others).
But don’t let the facts stop you from writing these essays on how much print books will be missed, Kathleen. It’s just one more thing we get to laugh about.
Meryl Yourish on December 30, 2012 at 10:49 PM
I agree with her. Guess that makes me a RINO right? Hot Gas, don’t disappoint me.
SuperBunny on December 30, 2012 at 11:01 PM
Yeah Kathleen…
But as far as I’m concerned literature started going down hill when they moved from chipping out petroglyphs to cuneiform on tablets of clay.
LegendHasIt on December 30, 2012 at 11:01 PM
Translation:
Valkyriepundit on December 30, 2012 at 11:36 PM
I always hated this. I used to hit people with the book I was reading and asked them if they still liked it. That wont happen anymore.
Hmmm… come to think of it, Im not so sure if thats good or bad.
Valkyriepundit on December 30, 2012 at 11:40 PM
Kathy thinks some one cares?
petefrt on December 30, 2012 at 11:43 PM
I don’t like hard backs so I wait until the paperback comes out. 10$ for an Ebook is pretty expensive considering a local used book store with books at a buck. Large selection of popular authors. Read a book a week or more and new books can be expensive.
If I want it now I buy it. At $1 trying a new author is kind of a no brainer. I have found some pretty good ones and who cares if they are so so. I do think that an ebook for a manual with search/bookmarks would be a good thing. I do recall that the demise of the bookstore was predicted years ago. Overreach.
BullShooterAsInElk on December 30, 2012 at 11:56 PM
Parker is certainly entitled to her opinion, but she’s years late to this argument.
aryeung on December 30, 2012 at 11:58 PM
Well, which is it?
Mr. Prodigy on December 31, 2012 at 12:20 AM
I’ve struck a balance. I’ve always been a voracious reader so most books I read, I only read once. No matter how many bookshelves I have they are inevitably filled to overflowing with books I will probably never read again. They then begin to accumulate in piles on the floor, slowly but surely consuming space until I finally gather them up and take them to a used book store to sell or otherwise dispose of them.
A couple of years ago I bought a NOOK Color which I just recently replaced with a Google Nexus 7. Right now I’m planning for a move in the near future. That tablet will be a hell of a lot easier to transport than boxes and boxes of books. Stripped of DRM, my elibrary is backed up to a thumb drive on a regular basis. And when I find a book that I truly love and want to keep, I buy a nice physical edition to add to my library. That way I get the convenience of an ereader but for the books I really enjoy I get the pleasure of a physical copy.
Rip Ford on December 31, 2012 at 12:26 AM
As someone who makes books by hand in her free time, I obviously love books — pretty much everything about them — the papers, the cover, the typography, and (•sigh•) the slightly musty smell.
I also enjoy reading on the iPad. I love the convenience of having a whole library at my fingertips when traveling, and of reading in bed without disturbing my husband.
Don’t make me choose one over the other.
jix on December 31, 2012 at 12:29 AM
There is a good feeling about holding a paper book in your hands. That just isn’t there when I read on my computer.
However, Kathleen is a twit. And, I am getting closer to buying a reader (or a pad) so I can carry around all hundreds of those wondrous things called books at once.
(Though, it would be nice if publishers wouldn’t rip us off by artificially inflating the prices of the e-books to stay even with the print versions. You’re not going to save yourselves that way.)
GWB on December 31, 2012 at 1:12 AM
*around
allhundredsGWB on December 31, 2012 at 1:13 AM
In short, there’s a market for a spray-on screen cleaner that leaves a lingering smell of old volumes.
Creative aroma-therapists alert.
profitsbeard on December 31, 2012 at 1:13 AM
It amazes me to this day how this idiot has such a high profile position.
WisCon on December 31, 2012 at 1:54 AM
If your apartment doesn’t have room for shelves full of books, or you’re packing for a trip and don’t have room in the case, or you’re going to college and have to put everything you need in a backpack, you can take an entire library in the space of a magazine with a Kindle. The book experience is nice, but I’d rather save the space for other stuff that can’t be shrunk.
Socratease on December 31, 2012 at 2:13 AM
While I don’t agree completely with the old silverfish, I still enjoy my musty hardbound novels. Everything else digital.
I also think that the price of an e-book should be around five bucks.
kregg on December 31, 2012 at 5:17 AM
Difficult to get an author autographed copy of an e-book.
Hard for author to go on a book signing PR tour if all the books are e-books.
E-books are at least 50-75% overpriced.
I like to give away or loan out my books…can’t do that with an e-book.
Yes, I have a Kindle (three in the house) and an iPad and have e-books on them. But mainly classic books (free) that I always meant to read when I was younger, but never did. (The Kindle is easier to read for a long time, than on a tablet-type device. Too much glare and light. But I really like my iPad for many other reasons and recommend it to all. Siri, you are my computerized personal secretary!)
albill on December 31, 2012 at 7:30 AM
It looks like someone didn’t get what they wanted for Christmas!
2L8 on December 31, 2012 at 7:40 AM
As a long time book reader I really like my Nook tablet. I wasn’t sure at first but I really like being able to side load the many free books, play some games and watch Netflix.
Dr. Frank Enstine on December 31, 2012 at 8:12 AM
I agree they are way overpriced.
My daughter has loaned me books and she has also taken them out at the library. I don’t know how it works but she said as long as it’s not on two readers at the same time it’s legal.
I also love the classics that I can get for free. I was really surprised that Bambi was nothing at all like the film version.
I’m able to adjust the brightness really well so I can read comfortably in a darkened or dark room. I can’t read in sunlight but when I had the original Nook I found that reading in sunlight was pretty tough on my eyes and I had trouble adjusting to shaded areas or buildings after reading.
Dr. Frank Enstine on December 31, 2012 at 8:22 AM
Do you do it for a living or hobby?
If hobby, is it worth it?
I’m asking because some years ago I wrote a short scifi novel that I had planned to have digitally published but never took the final step. As of late I’ve been thinking of doing a bit of a rewrite and expanding it. It was more of a journal first person thing and I never really like how constricted I felt doing it that way so I plan on changing the format.
Dr. Frank Enstine on December 31, 2012 at 8:29 AM
I tried reading Parker’s latest on paper. The experience wasn’t any better, which is pretty damning since she sets such a low bar to begin with.
JohnTant on December 31, 2012 at 8:29 AM
I agree. I read books. Real books. I can fold pages, Write notes. Spill coffee on it and not panic. Plus. I don’t have to worry about some company editing the book in my sleep.
JellyToast on December 31, 2012 at 8:36 AM
Most e-book readers don’t let you copy and paste thus making them worthless for research purposes. I think they work well with fiction books that you intend to read cover to cover like a novel. For non-fiction reference books they aren’t so hot.
tommyboy on December 31, 2012 at 9:02 AM
My Nook is “rooted” and doesn’t do auto updates. They could change a book in their cloud I guess but I save any book downloaded to a backup SD card. I don’t turn on Wi-Fi unless I’m using it.
Dr. Frank Enstine on December 31, 2012 at 9:07 AM
Most e-book readers don’t let you copy and paste thus making them worthless for research purposes. I think they work well with fiction books that you intend to read cover to cover like a novel. For non-fiction reference books they aren’t so hot.
tommyboy on December 31, 2012 at 9:02 AM
Many other book reading apps allow you to make notes and export them. I don’t use my Nook for research purposes because it’s only 7 inches which makes reading PDFs difficult and most research and technical papers I read are PDF.
Dr. Frank Enstine on December 31, 2012 at 9:18 AM