Do books have a future?
by Simon Jones

Space-hogging, clumsy and a pain to search through - will there be a place for books in our fast, efficient society?

Thinking of a future without books is like thinking of a future without cars. Although few of us seriously think that books will become obsolete in the future there are several mediums which are driving them out of popularity.

With its ability to store numerous cumbersome encyclopaedias on one disk, the CDROM is one of them. Unlike a book, information can be quickly searched from any word in the whole text. With the added benefit of video and sound, the whole process of researching is less tiresome and more fun. One of the reasons why, probably, Enclopaedia Brittanica recently made the decision to dispense with its hefty volumes and transfer the mass of information onto CDROMs and the Internet.

But overtaking these in terms of a staggering amount of easily accessible information is the Internet. Unlike books, the Internet has the advantage of containing content that's bang up to date. A long list of relevant information, from a variety of worldwide sources, can be collated in just a few minutes. Because information is so freely available it has become almost indispensable - a world where the views of familiar authors are placed next to those of ordinary people and assume equal importance. With Joe Public expressing his views and opinions the content can be enlightening, but also misleading, as it is unregulated for accuracy. This is a very different situation than Ray Bradbury's futuristic vision in Fahrenheit 451 where individual expression in books was considered detrimental to society and led to them being burned.

Having recently had a technological makeover in the shape of eBooks, it seems probable that the fate of many books lies in a digital form. eBooks are digital files of books which can be downloaded to a portable computer devices such as the Microsoft Reader for Microsoft's Pocket PC. Functioning like a CD-ROM in many ways - it displays graphics and text and features word- searchable passages of text which you can copy and send by e-mail. Another major advantage is that it includes audio capabilities, enabling you to listen to audio books, newspapers or magazines. An entire library can be stored on it, which raises the important question - what will become of libraries? Surely, as they are, in essence, a source of information available in the public domain, it is only a matter of time before many of them go online?

A situation where devices, such as this, become a part of our everyday lives, as with mobile phones, will take a major shift in our reading habits. As the initial outlay of the machines make them prohibitive to many people, they are not easily qualified as being a 'must have'. Even so, the purchasing costs of eBooks are lower than printed versions because there's no printing involved and distribution is done via the Internet. To compete with paper books, electronic books need to be more user-friendly - easier to read on the eye with a less glaring background. They need to include features that paper books don't offer such as information that is continually updated, regular newsletters and your favourite magazines sent directly to the device. This would turn what is presently a luxury into an everyday convenience.

But however advanced the eBook becomes it will never offer the freedom of simply being able to grab one off the shelf and flick through it in an instant, without the worry of batteries running low or spilling your coffee over it.

Related links

The Battle to Define the Future of the Book in the Digital World by Clifford Lynch by Clifford Lynch

Why Worry About The Future Of Books? ("Some Cynical Guy" No. 58: December 30, 2001)