I plan to receive a lot of hate mail, reddit comments, HackerNews flame, twitter feedback and so on, for this post. I’m ready. Just try to have an open mind and let’s have a conversation I’m accessible if your opinions don’t align with mine and there probably is no absolute right or wrong answer. The purpose of this post is to argue for the continued inclusion of physical books in your daily life.

eBooks are great

Let me start off by saying that eBooks are an incredible innovation. We’re still in the earlier stages of this evolution, although they’ve been around in some form or the other for over a decade now. The reader technologies are really becoming first class, whether you prefer the iPad, the Amazon Kindle or any other variant in between. Having an entire library at your disposal is an incredible thing and being able to access just about the entire knowledge base of the world at the touch of a button (or 1-click, in Amazon parlance) truly is a testament to the ingenuity of humankind. eBooks themselves are non-remarkable. What’s great about eBooks is the infrastructure behind them. Being able to purchase seamlessly, browse endlessly, publish effortlessly and ignore readily are all aspects that contribute to the (r)evolution of this form. There. I said it. eBooks can be a great thing.

The Lindy Effect

In 1964, Albert Goldman wrote an article in The New Republic defining something called “Lindys Law,” defining it:

the future career expectations of a television comedian is proportional to the total amount of his past exposure on the medium

Apparently, the name for the law was in reference to a deli in NY named Lindy’s where comedians would gather and “conduct post-mortems on recent show biz action.” In 1984, researcher Benoit Mandelbrot redefined the “Lindy Effect,” to indicate that the life expectancy of certain endeavors is directly proportional to the life it has had so far. As an example, consider that the Guttenberg Bible which has been in print since 1455 is still in print today. It has survived 559 years in print and it is reasonable to assume that it will survive for at least another 559. Or the Quran, which was first compiled around 655 (1,359 years ago) is still in print today. Even non-religious texts like Euclid’s “Elements,” first written in 300 BC (2,314 years ago) continues to survive through today.

Books that have stood the test of time will, statistically and probabilistically, continue to stand the test of time. The same can be said of many technologies. While certainly there are technologies developed in the past 100 or so years that will continue to live on for many centuries, a safer bet would be to look at technologies that have lasted through till today. The wheel, for example, is still a fashionable piece of technology despite it’s ancient origins. The beeper, however, did not have that long of a lifespan. It was replaced by a better and newer technology. The cell phone, as it originally was, is slowly (or quickly) being replaced by an entirely new technology — the smartphone.

The Book

The physical book, the printed word, has some amazing “features” that should not and cannot be overlooked.

eBooks are not just the “next” type of book

Fans of the eBook will inevitably point out that eBooks are just the next evolution of the book. It is not. It is more like the beeper and the smartphone, just mentioned. The intent and use of the technology does not define the technology. A horse drawn carriage had the same intent and purpose of today’s modern automobile, but the automobile is an entirely different technology. With that in mind, I consider eBooks to be a different and new way to consume content, not the “evolution” of the book itself. The physical book (hardcover, paperback, perfect-bound, spiral-bound, and so on) is a different technology than the eBook.

What’s so great about killing trees?

Books, the kind that get trees killed, have a cost. They certainly cost more than eBooks, but there’s also the environmental cost, the transportation cost, the storage cost and so on. There’s no denying that. But they also have benefits. Tangible benefits as well as latent benefits. So while we certainly kill trees to make books, we, as a society, grow because of the books.

The tangible

There is something rewarding about getting through a physical book. When you look at where your bookmark is (or your folded page), and see that it is 80% of the way through, you may feel sad that your story is ending. You may feel happy that your knowledge is growing. You may feel anxious if there’s a deadline looming. You may feel any number of things, but you will feel. The same is not true of a progress bar on a digital screen indicating how far you’ve gotten.

A book has a stronger attachment to your other senses as well. It feels heavy (or light). The pages have a certain distinct smell. Flipping a page is actually rewarding. Giving a friend a book as a gift says a lot about you and your knowledge of your friend. Loaning it to someone because you think they might enjoy it helps strengthen the bond you have with that person.

Easy to use

I have an iPad, an iPhone, an Android tablet and a Kindle. I’ve quickly figured out how to use all of them with ease. They are all such great multi purpose devices that help me navigate my way around new cities, find restaurants, talk to friends, conduct my business affairs and yes — even read. But the usability of a book cannot be beat. It requires no instruction book (see what I did there??). No explanation. It’s friendly for all ages. If it gets destroyed or lost, the financial cost is minimal, compared to the other devices, although the emotional cost can be great depending on your attachment to that particular book.

Selection, selection, selection

eBook distribution systems tout the incredible selection as a feature. The incredible selection, they fail to mention, is also paralyzing. Being able to pick any book in the known universe is a daunting task for our brains that haven’t yet had the requisite millennia to evolve to such a selection scheme. In The Paradox of Choice, Barry Schwartz beautifully illustrates how too much choice can lead to no choice at all. Sampling a chapter or a blurb of twenty books leads you more and more unsatisfied with whatever choice you ultimately settle on. This is known as “satisficing,” a portmanteau of “satisfy” and “suffice.” Picking one book and actually reading it, even if you choose not to finish it, gives more satisfaction than settling on an eBook from 20 different choices.

That being said, there are incredible selection mechanisms for physical books as well. Amazon, Barnes and Noble, your local bookstore and the public library all provide different mechanisms for choosing your next great read. Having to choose what to read furthers your investment in that book. Spending time browsing an aisle or, of you must, reading reviews online, helps you pick. Since there is a higher cost for a physical book and a time commitment (having to go to a store or wait for a delivery), you’re more likely to choose carefully.

Respect the Word

Maybe it’s my recent infatuation with Medium as a writing platform that has given me more respect for the written word, but I feel that the ease of which someone can publish an eBook adds to the noise of an already noisy world. Yes, you could argue, the cream rises to the top through the natural selection mechanisms for the free market. In fact, I agree with that completely. But while the market is doing it’s thing, you and I are left having to weed through countless terrible eBooks trying to find something we like.

In print publishing, because of the cost, there is a curation and selection mechanism. While it is not perfect (Harry Potter was rejected by many publishers at first), it does help shield us from excess noise. The publishing industry certainly needs innovation and more decentralization, but that’s a conversation for another day. When something is too readily available, the respect for it tends to diminish. This is not a law, but more of a general tendency that I’ve noticed. Things that are too freely available get taken for granted. It’s what Robert Cialdini would call “the value of scarcity.”

Books are here to stay

Given that the written word on a physical medium has survived for over 5,000 years and that the bound book as we know it has survived since the 8th century (1,200 years), based on the Lindy Effect, it’s safe to say that they have a better chance at surviving the next 1,200 or so years. eBooks are still new to the game so I’m not as certain about them. I believe they have a place in society and in publishing, but I’m still an advocate of the physical book.

[Cross posted from my blog: shamoon.me]