Saturday, July 23, 2011

Montag Was Here

Boy.
I just don't know what to say.
Seem ole Ray was right.
The written page, and the thing that holds it all together, the book, is going the way of the horse and buggy.
Come to think of it, maybe in the near future, only them Amish folks will have books and libraries and magazines and stuff.
Wait.
I think they gotta print that stuff up on a Gutenberg press or something.
Filling a library may take a while.
What the hell am I talking about?
Borders is closing.
Falling to the pressure of ebooks, etailers and downloading, the printed page is no longer an economically viable medium.
At least not for them.
I feel sort of guilty, for I guess I'm part of the problem.
See I order most of my books from Amazon.
I mean it's cheaper, shipping is free, and with the money I save, well I can afford to order another book!
I can't make the free shipping on bar tape alone, so I have a bunch of books on my wish list that I add to make the minimum required.
Sorry Borders.
It was nice browsing you.
Actually, I never browsed Borders too much.
Anyways, this whole thing reminded me of Ray Bradbury's vision of the future in his book Fahrenheit 451, where books were verboten and firemen had the cool job of setting books on fire.
Okay, the closing of Borders isn't that dramatic.
Borders isn't exactly going down in flames.
Well, sort of.
It seems these down loadable book things and access to information in general is changing the way we humans think.
I gotta admit, I'm guilty of this too.
As I get older, I'm starting to forget more than I learn so I have come to rely on the instant access of information the webz provides.
Still, I got me some books.
Okay, I got me a lot of books cause after I finish reading them I tend to keep them around.
Just in case don't you know.
I don't' really enjoy reading stuff on the computer and I sort of like turning real pages, being something of a writer myself.
I mean there's just something about having words on paper that makes them immortal, permanent, if you will.
This digital stuff can be erased at the push of a button, but it takes a dude like Montag to come around and exterminate a book.
I should stop talking about Montag this way, he eventually saw the light of the page and started to save some books.
I mean even that Mariner dude on Waterworld saw the value of printed paper.
Wait.
Nevermind.
I wouldn't be trading Jean Tripplehorn for no paper.
If you know what I mean.
Anyways, all this has me thinking that the day when some young folks are going to aks "grandpa, what's a book?" may not be too far away.
Especially once google gets every book ever made online.
All our information will come via computer terminal, like some Orwellian dream.
Never thought it would happen huh?
Well, I'll be keeping my books, and I'll probably be getting some more.
They'll come in handy when the next ice age hits.
Okay, maybe not here, but I can always auction them off on the eVilness don't you know.
Unless some Montag dudes show up in the middle of the night.
You know, right after they're done with Barnes and Noble.

3 comments:

Steve A said...

Borders. They were happy when they pushed out the small booksellers. Not so much when it became their turn. I'd get concerned if people simply were no longer reading, as with the story in your post title.

John Romeo Alpha said...

I'm working through the e-book vs paper book dilemma. I too keep paper books around just in case, and I turn to them often. However, I just finished my first full e-book reading. It was a book I would probably not read again, although I enjoyed it. For that type of book, I think I am OK with e-book reading. Which is a big step for me. For technical books, e-book may be perfect. I still like paper though. And a good librarian, for that matter, along with that vanishing breed, the knowledgeable book seller you can chat with.

limom said...

Steve A, if you ever heard high school kids read, you'd be worried too.

JRA, I'm just not sure if this trend toward digitalization is a good thing.
It can be useful and like anything, abused.