One Day I Will Write a Book
There was a time not so long ago when to write a book was a relatively passive event. At least it appeared that way. The writing itself was the marker, the pivotal allure, the make or break.
The book would be a solid mass, not a hologram, a potential object. The solidity of a book is different from its digital contemporary, it has a feel, a look, dimensions — personality.
A book is a book. Digital books are not books, they are ideations, seemings, possibilities. They are only created as download, in flux, potential, never an object, in fact.
Will a digital ebook ever become an old book? I mean in the sense of the one you have to find in a bookshelf, you have to reach for and touch. The ones that wear and tear and if neglected fall apart.
There is something about an old book, like an old friend it has reliability you can turn to and know it will always be there.
None of the stress, inherent in technology, reliant on something needing to be switched on and more often, for that something when brought to life, dependent on something else to be in place and working for the enjoyment of reading to start.
You can still read a book by the light of a candle, or if really pressed by the light of a fire.
The digital impression is just that, an impression. It will outlast real books for thousands of years. When all the maulings and dropping and spline tears, placed on a book have made it unreadable, its digital impression will live on to be reincarnated if necessary.
Future directions suggest little need or use for a tangible book. Collector's items? Still, just as many keep objects of art (rather than impressions of art), some may cherish the actualization in the hand.
The concrete books I do keep are the special ones, the meaningful ones. The companions. One favorite method (I’m sure many do this)is prior to traveling to a local or distant destination, going to a second-hand book shop and looking for titles related to that destination. Once found, this book I would then carry with me and read in situ, in place.
Then often a new or old dimension is revealed or added. An overlay of times past and culture present, shown in its roots.
For myself, hypocrisy is complete. I almost only read digitally now. It’s cheap and instant. I will order the hard copy of something special. As I write, not all books are digitally available, against the trend like vinyl records, the book as object incarnated is having a niche comeback.
