Bibliophilia
Lately, I’ve been thinking about the fate of the book. Part of this is due to the invention of the Kindle which, despite its wonderful name, leaves me skeptical. Even Captain Jean-Luc Picard read real books. I love real books. I study Renaissance literature and dabble in the medieval, so I can’t help but be totally fascinated by learning how ink was made, how sixteenth century printers kept buckets of urine in the shop to soften leather balls used for applying ink to the type, how certain religious books were so valuable that they were chained to the church—all that stuff. Put me in the Rare Books room at the British Library and I’m as happy as a baby with a pacifier.
I mean, look at these images from the Book of Kells. Tell me they’re not awesome.
Ok, you might say, “Sure, they’re awesome. But I’m looking at them online. That’s good enough for me. I don’t need to see the real thing.” But I have seen the real thing, and it’s magical. There’s a big difference between seeing a real Van Gogh and glancing at “Starry Night” plastered on a coffee mug.
If it sounds like I’m saying a real book is a work of art, I am.
NPR’s “On the Media” has the great series about books, electronic books, and reading. Check it out.
The kindle! Enemy. Mostly because well, you don’t own anything with it. You license it. I try not to get into a meddle with those copyright issues until they are all sorted out. Anyhow, my books don’t need batteries, for instance, & I can stick my thumb in to mark a page, & well. I think kindles & their ilk have a ways to go before supplanting such.
I do recognize that there’s at least one big plus to the Kindle: it’s eco-friendly.
Also, I recognize that me raving about the Book of Kells overlooks something important: of course it’s better to see parts of it online than never to see it at all, just like you can look at a facsimile version of Shakespeare’s folio if you can’t get your mitts on a real copy (but then, who can?).
See, not that I disagree, but I heart some of my facsimile books SO MUCH. Oh Voynich Manuscript!
I love books, the printed page, the smell of books, the environment of most libraries and the smell of the library. I grew up with those books from an old library which was enchanting and that recollection will never lessen because of the tech of the electronic gadgets that just pixil or whatever the words. It’s the historical discovery of the printing press, that is kept alive in the real printed word, where knowledge, reasoning, the investigative mind reeled off the track. No, don’t give it up.
I can sit and pour over the beautiful images in books and be enthraled and trip my imagination and compel me to reproduce some piece of it in a drawing or on clay. Love it!
Dear Sherry,
I’m so glad you share my love of books!
Marie
To those that say that eBooks are ecofriendly as compared to paper books: Your local state park full of misty virgin timber is not being cut down. It’s acres of trees being purposely grown (and saplings replanted) that are harvested for such.
Try justifying some of the rare minerals used in the manufacture of kindles. They are found in specific parts of the world and their commerce funds warlords. Pardon the pun but read up on it.
quick question raises a hand whatinell’s a kindle…?? lol…i was first taught how to read in a private academy school, and mistrust technology in general, so i have my own personal bookcase of books i’ve owned throughout my life, and a few that aren’t exactly mine….< ..< drat
Nugget: Well, that certainly is one way to look at “eco-friendly.” Perhaps I should have chosen my words better. I suppose it’s hard for me to not feel guilty about my wanton consumption of paper. But, hey, if there’s a good reason for me NOT to feel guilty, I’ll take it.
Anonymous: Alas, I too have books on my shelves that are not mine. Of course, I truly intend to give them back; they are borrowed, not stolen. But I forget, and forget…the moral of the story: don’t lend me books.
Ahem. Unless anyone out there wants to loan me ARCs of books I desperately want to read. Then, please ignore everything I said about forgetting to return things…
I agree.
I love the feel of a real book.
I have been known to read an electronic version here and there, but nothing beats the feel of having real paper in your hand.
I doubt that the Kindle factory is truly eco friendly. How much energy is required to manufacture a Kindle?
I often wonder the advent of books was frowned upon by those who were scroll fans. “I just don’t like pages,” a scroll lover might say.
I would hate to see books replaced by plastic and micro-chips; however, when I was in college, I would have loved to carry a Kindle instead of that backpack full of text books. Plus, a few animated illustrations, interactive wiki links, and searchable indexes may have enhanced my experience with Calculus, Art History, or Physics. Still, as primitive as bound paper seems, somehow I doubt that books will ever be replaced by electronics completely.