Liberation

Will traditional books become as obsolete as clay tablets? Probably pretty much so.

Over the past few years we have gone from owning thousands to hundreds of books.  That is, hard copies of books.  Today, after pitching my National Geographic Atlas of the World, I realized how liberating getting rid of these books is.  Don't misunderstand.  We read more than ever, but thanks to modern technology, we can carry all the books we want around "in" our Kindles.  What we do not have there, we can find on the Internet.  With Google maps, who needs an atlas? I am retaining only books I really like that are not yet readily available in digital form.  When they become digitized, if I think I will read them again, I will get them in digital form on my Kindle or whatever electronic device I am using at the time.  This is quite a change for me.   I used to love the feel of a book in my hand .  I thought nothing could or should replace a hard copy of a text.  Then Kindle happened.  I found myself reading more because I take my Kindle everywhere and can always find something on it that I am in the mood to read.  It took a while to get used to the Kindle.  But now I always seek an electronic version of a book first.  If it is not available electronically, I have to really consider how badly I want to read it.  Badly enough to lug a book around or to let it take up more space in the bookcase?  I no longer do research  papers or need books for work,  and many of my interests have changed, so why keep a multitude of books ?  Some of those books have not been read in years and although they are really good books, they are not apt to be read by me again. Time to send them somewhere so others can enjoy them.

An exception to preferring an ebook to a hard copy text, is my quilting books or other books where good color photos are critical.  I still order some magazines in hard copy because of the photos, too.  That may change as technology improves. Already we subcribe to one magazine online.

If I were a mother reading to my child I would want a hard copy.  Somehow, cuddling up with a child and an e-reader does not seem like it would capture the child's imagination the way holding a traditional book does. I think that a child's turning a page and anticipating what will be on it, is more apt to help foster a love of reading than will pushing a button on a machine. I could be wrong.  Perhaps someone will do a study about this.

Today, after getting rid of hundreds of books again, including those space hogging atlases, I felt liberated.  Now I can put other space hogging things on those shelves-- yards and yards of cotton fabric that I use in quilting.  At least the fabric is beautiful to look at.  Dearly Beloved may not agree.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=d2XBYKDawJo