The Future of the Book

27 Sep 2010 by

If I look over my shoulder, right now, there’s a wall of books.

Books have been a passion since childhood. As an adult, I purchase to the point of addiction.

So I’m in two minds about Kindles, Sony eReaders and the like. I don’t do a bad job of keeping up with tech trends, but with so much paper already paid for – and unread – why do I need to replace it all?

(I’m of a generation that churned VHS for DVD and replaced vinyl with CDs. Which are in turn redundant now that I download and stream. So forgive my resistance to the charms of iPad.)

While previous format transitions gave me an improved experience, I can’t see that yet with books. OK, so there’s less weight to carry around, but come on! A paperback or two hardly counts as isometric exercise. If it did, then I’d have a body like Mr Universe.

Which I don’t.

So this video from design house IDEO really caught my eye. They don’t bill and coo over the shiny-shiny screen and the fact that the device is only 1/8″ thick (who cares?).

They’ve been thinking about how creatives could use the capabilities of tablet technology  to change the very act of reading. Or more specifically, assimilating information and entering fictional worlds.

Intriguing. Maybe even game-changing. And most importantly, different.

What do you think?

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  • Mssmith1

    Hi, my name’s Mark and I’m a book addict…. Like you, a huge consumer of books and also someone who likes the tangible feel of books (I actually think that an innate preference for tangibles like CDs and books over their digital counterparts is to do with a craving for permanence, but that’s another discussion altogether!), but I recently invested in a Kindle.

    My reasons for going ebook were:
    1. Primarily, I travel a lot, and books are heavy. If I’m on a 10 day trip to India, carrying only hand luggage, there are plenty of opportunities to read when work is not possible (for example for confidentiality reasons). I can easily get through 5 or 6 books in that period of time, but couldn’t carry them.
    2. Another, less pressing reason, is a microcosm of this. Travelling to and from London with a bag containing a notebook PC, various pens and pads, etc, I’m keen to keep the weight down. If I’m at the point where I know I’ll finish one hefty, hardback business book I’ll need to carry both that one and the next hefty, hardback business book. This *can* make a noticeable difference to the weight of the bag I heft around with me all day.
    3. Particularly with business books, I often like to make notes, but can’t bear to do so in the books themselves: hence I end up with scattered notes all over the shop.
    4. I have a lot of books at home, and my wife wants a very expensive new, hand-built bookcase…..

    So the kindle arrived and it’s lovely. The display is incredibly easy to read, it’s portable, quick to download new books and newspapers (instant gratification!) and battery life is good. I love it.

    The negatives:
    - The kindle store is extensive, but it is still some way short of the paper amazon store
    - pricing is not as competitive as I would like
    - navigating material is not as easy as with a “real” book
    - can’t share books with friends, family and colleagues

    I think like the CD/mp3 debate, there is room for both digital and tangible formats at the moment. My advice with ebook readers is to give it a try. It works for me…..

  • http://www.wallgazing.com/ Tom

    It’s very interesting and it joins the variety of innovations that are appearing now that the tablets are here. Flipboard is an interesting one too that’s transformed the way I use Twitter. Well, it means I actually use Twitter now rather than just hold an account – using as a consumer rather than a producer of tweets, mind you.