Books will never die

Not too long ago it looked like books were doomed. Now it’s clear to me that books will never die.

If anything, I believe, books will become even more popular in the coming years. The “book winter” is over.

It looked like books were doomed because of the Internet. Words can be transferred electronically, around the world, instantly. Because of the Internet, you don’t need to print the words on pieces of paper in order to transport them.

Now, I realize this was a simplistic way to look at books. It assumed that books are words printed on pieces of paper.

Yes, a book can be words printed on pieces of paper, the same way a fortress is just stones.

You can’t pile some stones together, and have yourself a fortress. You can’t just print some words on paper and have yourself a book.

A book is not words on paper—nor on an e-reader screen. It is shareable, and whole. A book is the Platonic form of an idea.

Economically, a book is an honest transaction. I construct my idea into a package, and you pay me for it. There is no pop-over window, there is no misleading headline, and there is no cookie.

If you like a book, you share it with a friend. You may even buy it as a gift. You can hand it to your friend and say “this book is now in my brain. Here, I want you to have it, too.”

Books are a bargain. All of that experience and knowledge, carefully constructed into a digestible form, for like, what, $10? $20? $5? “A dollar-fifty in late charges at the public library[?]”

In world where there are more words written and read than ever, I think we’re learning the hard way that books are not a collection of words. We’re learning the value of a pile of stones, versus the value of a fortress.

Meanwhile, everyone wants to make things more complicated than they need to be. They’re pushing all of their might into making an app that could never have half the impact—nor the timelessness—of a book.

So, the price of apps, and everything involved in building them, is inflated: developer’s salaries, rent, and molecular gastronomy restaurants.

The result is, words are a bargain.

Warren Buffett (my former neighbor) once said, “be fearful when others are greedy and greedy when others are fearful.” I think it’s safe to say that when it comes to apps, people have gotten greedy. When it comes to words, people have gotten fearful.

So, I hereby give notice that I am doubling down on words. Not so much on words, but the thoughts and ideas expressed through them. And not so much the thoughts and ideas expressed through them, but the living of life—the cuts, bruises, broken hearts, beads of sweat, and laughs—that lead to the thoughts and ideas that are then made into words.

Hopefully, there’s a book or two in there somewhere. Books will never die.

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