Quite recently in my Mass Communications class our discussions or debates, whichever way you look at it, always seem to stumble upon the topic of books. The question thrown onto the table is: Will the physical aspect of a book last forever? Or will, at some point within our lifetime, will all books be found online? The New York Times also seems to view this question or topic as something worth discussing as well.
I guess I never took the time to consider whether the concrete idea of a book would be at our fingertips forever. I am part of the generation that has grown up with computers, cell phones and iPods. So, when records lost their popularity I wasn't affected. When people began to send a text or email instead of sending letters via mail, it didn't shock me because it is what I have always known. But, books? Books are something that are a part of my childhood. I have to admit, I am not an avid reader of any author and I have not gotten caught up in the Twilight series, but there is something about walking into a Borders or a Barnes & Nobles bookstore that makes me feel warm inside. It could be the atmosphere. Its a warm quiet place with plenty of couches available for you to rest on while you drown in the pages of your novel of choice. But I think more than the atmosphere, my warm and cozy feelings towards Borders or a Barnes & Noble, has much more to do with what is lined among the thousands of shelves throughout the store ... the books.
Now that I have taken multiple classes to think about the topic of: books, I have come to find that I am quite fond of them. This summer I was in Florida with my family and while my mom was inside a nail salon, I decided to opt out of a pedicure, and sit outside on the steps in front of the store and read a book. If books all entered the digital realm within my lifetime and my new warm and cozy Borders was solely online ... I certainly would never be able to enjoy sitting outside on another warm summer day, with the breeze in my hair, and a book in my hand. Unless of course I wanted to tug around my laptop with me and hope that I remembered to charge it the night before!
I guess my hope for this debate: 'Will Books Survive??'... is that there are enough people who share my somewhat strange attraction to the atmosphere of a bookstore, and also understand the inexplicable sensation of physically holding your new book and flipping through its crisp pages, at your own convenience, wherever you may be!
I can't imagine a world without books. I had never considered it a possibility until now. Don't get me wrong, I am certainly not losing sleep over the issue. But, I have to admit if, god forbid, books ever did nosedive exclusively into cyberspace it would sadden me a bit. I guess the only solution for now is one a little similar to our Y2K scare: stock up on all the books you can incase they aren't here when we wake up!
