Mr. Joel

I’ve been thinking about books again. I know. I only ever seem to come here when I have been thinking about books. Mostly about my problems with digital books. These revolve around the fact that some of my favorite things about physical books are things that digital books just cannot do well. However I do look forward to the day when some one (let’s face it, probably Apple) will roll out the e-reader that is just right for me. Because there are things that digital books do and will do much better than the paper and ink versions. There is the obvious ability to have a library without the shelves, the glory of being able to look stuff up as you go, and getting another book to read right now. But I want more.

I have been reading more and more I have been wanting to highlight and make notes in the books and I want to retain those notes in some sort of database so that when I am thinking about something such as the future of water usage in the United States I can call up all those notes and write a really great blog post about how we need to start applying desalinization technology to how we handle our waste water. Or something like that. I am really looking forward to the day when I can have something that does that. I don’t even have to keep the book. I would happily borrow the e-book from the New York Public e-Library and have it zapped back there when it was due so long as my notes and quotations were left intact. It’s not even a big thing to ask, but it would be so satisfying. Just imagine how much easier writing a thesis could be. You could even take all the books home with you over winter break without breaking your back or paying a king’s ransom in baggage charges.

While we’re on the subject of school there’s this: Digital Textbooks. Colleges already order, or rather make students order, custom textbook for a number of classes. With a custom digital text book, profs can order the texts they want and if they want to add a topic mid semester they could (eventually). It also will lessens the ridiculous lag between something becoming important to the field and it being put into textbooks. Why stop at the college level with adaptable books? Soon the issue of right-wingers in Texas changing what is in textbooks nation wide will be a thing of the past. If a teacher wants to teach about Oscar Romero he’ll be in there. Fantastic. Of course, such customizable books do kill the possibility of buying a cheap used book with good highlighting and margin notes and without the ability to buy used books at all college reading lists will become even more expensive. Well. you can’t have everything, but at least you’ll have Oscar Romero.

If you are in the mood for something even older than your Bio 101 book there is this: digital copies of rare books. The British Library has digitized many of its 19th century books, including Hardy, Dickens, and Austin. Want to read Pride and Prejudice in it’s original layout and typeface? Done. Even when the hard copies have deteriorated into dust you’ll be able to read it.

So, iPad, Kindle, nook, and others. Hurry up and meet my needs. I have things I want to read with you.

P.S. E-books helping sure in library members.

Tags: books