By Anthony Biondi (The Cascade) – Email
Print Edition: March 14, 2012
Kindle, kINdle, kindle, KinDle, KINDLE, kindle. The Kindle haunts me everywhere I go. Every time I hear about it, it’s only ever good things: how versatile it is, how great it is to carry more than one book within its strange digital workings. I hate the Kindle; I fear the Kindle; I love the Kindle.
Back in the good old days, men and women of all ages and sizes read books: hard bound, lovely soft pages and solid black print. The printing press was one of the greatest inventions in history because of the gift it brought to us in terms of the written word. Suddenly books and papers were easily produced. Suddenly we could purchase our favorite manuscript and read it whenever we pleased. Since Gutenberg, books have gained popularity as prime sources of entertainment, literature and information; nothing beat the hard print.
But we are a long way from the good old days. We live in a society of ever-changing and ever-growing technology. We live in a world where the new version of iPad comes out once a year and consumer electronics fill our pockets. So why should the humble book be excluded from this trend? It’s so much more efficient to cram hundreds upon hundreds of pages into a digitalized print form. It weighs less, is more portable and durable, and is conceivably more economical. No trees need to be cut down to print another page. It’s all just digital transfer. It’s a glorious revolution of print, in which we can buy whatever we want wherever we have internet and not have to worry about carrying around a 1200 page tome. Praise be to technological breakthroughs!
The Kindle and its kind provide us with a soft screen that emulates the feel of a paper page. It can feel like reading on a normal page without gifting the reader with the violent eye strain that comes from reading on a computer screen. Technology is so versatile.
But there is just something so special about the feel of paper on thumb, and the need to flip to the next page by hand. I love trying my best not to bend the spine as I pour through 500 word volumes. The Kindle, frankly, diminishes these experiences.
That’s not to say it isn’t a great thing; in most respects I’m sure it is. Yet I can’t help but wonder at the future of books. Will the day come when Chapters finally dies from the slow-acting poison of digital transfer? I shiver at the thought. I love book stores, and I fear their demise. I have been noticing a decrease in the variety and amount. The Indigo chain seems to be the only prominent one, aside from this trend of used book vendors. I think it is great that we can still have places to go to increase our own personal libraries. The look of a hardcover book on a shelf is an inviting one. I know I visit bookstores a surprising amount, despite the fact we only have one new book store in town. Searching those shelves is an experience the Kindle can never replace.
The future I see in my mind is a demented utopia of digital stores and flatscreen reading. There are no more dusty book shelves with dusty books. There are no more coarse, yellowed pages or creaking spines. There are no more bookmarks with happy designs of turtles and wagons. There is no more shoving a thick wad of papers under your arm as you run for the bus stop.
This reality is simultaneously realistic and terrifying. What would we do without print books? To me it seems like the entire experience of reading is cheapened. There would be too much I would miss. Reading a book, to me, is something physical and engrossing. It’s not just about the words on the page, it’s also the fact that there are physical pages, and there is ink, and a front cover!
I won’t lie; I have been tempted by the Kindle and its ilk. But I know deep down in the dark and loving parts of my soul that I would not enjoy the experience of reading nearly as much. It is the wholeness of the book that draws me in. I could never read without it, and I fear for its future.
I urge all of you to continue to support the purchase of bound pages, for the love of the printing press and all that is beautiful and solid in life.
