Sad thought about books.....

Books are becomming obsolete. If you want to read a novel, you can read it on the computer. I heard many publishing companies are going out of business. The only upside to all of this is the trees that will be spared for the paper that has been used for zillions of books.
I am going to hang on to the books I have.....

What are your thoughts on this matter?

 

I don't think that books will ever be completely gone. Personally, I don't like reading on my computer or on an e-reader.

 

Yeah, me either. I like to hold the book while I am reading it.....

 

I have a kindle touch but nothing beats the feel and smell of a physical paperback.
History books and art books will continue to hold a physical presence I believe but as for novels it'll be all data I believe soon. It's just the way the world is going now.
Is it really good for the environment though? Many of our technological advances pollute the environment when they're made. All of a sudden paper doesn't sound so bad.

 

I like paper books, but ebooks are a lot more convenient. I've cut back my reading time by 75% or so in the last couple of months and have boxed tons of books up. I'm amazed at how much room the book shelves were taking up.

If I keep getting ebooks, I will never have to put any of the bookshelves back up.

It's easier to search for stuff in an e-reader too.

 

I just hope it doesn't effect printed books. I can only read them if it's printed. I'd hate to see a future with only digital books.

 

I don't mind reading articles on the computer but if I'm reading a book....I'd just like to read the book. There is something about holding a book and reading and rereading certain parts while my imagination creates images in my mind. Sometimes it even reminds me of when I was very young and reading to my mom as I was learning.

 

Goosebumps nostalgia all over. =p

 

I thought of this a smy brother is an excellent writer, and I was trying to urge him to write books already, and he told me there was no more market for them.....that publishers were closing all over NYC.....

 

If they're converted to ebook readers then people are still going to be able to buy and read them though it's not like people have stopped reading.
The prices of books for my kindle is beyond a joke anyway, they're almost the same price as a physical copy and you don't even get coloured pictures. Just like iTunes, if I'm going to pay pretty much market value for the physical copy... Send me that physical copy. Ya know?

 

The Barnes & Noble I go to is doing great now that they've entered the 21st century. You can sit down and read, there’s Wi-Fi and power outlets, there’s a small coffee shop - you can hangout for hours.


Hotwater

 

We used to have a store like that called Borders. People would go in to socialise more than look at the books. I never really understood it
They were expensive though, I find cheapest books are on Amazon.

 

I love those bookstores. We still have Barnes and Noble here, too with a coffee shop, and everyone is always so relaxed and friendly....and being there always feels like such a comfort. I find books very comforting. My father had thousands of them....so I grew up in a house with no room for the people....so many books...not really.....but it was like a library in the home I grew up in. I studied my mom's medical books as a 3-4 year old looking at all of the disease photos....over and over as if memorizing them.....that is a strange child thing to do.

 

It was weird. Those books even smelled sick.

 

I remember when they filed for bankruptcy



Hotwater

 

As a child I always read mums books and she always read about crime and serial killers so naturally I was into the same thing when I started reading. Sharks and dinosaurs, too. Everybody loves dinosaurs and sharks..... and UFOs and aliens too.

 

I've read several books on serial killer including one on Dahmer, Gacy, and The Green River killer Gary Ridgway


Hotwater

 

I saw this thread way earlier...and books mean so much to me that I had to go away and come back.

Part of my identity is with books.

I will be 58 years old in October, even though I feel about 40...and there are as many books in my home as there are in some small county libraries...no, probably more. There are books here on EVERYTHING, including 2 complete (if not 3...I'd have to check) sets of enclyclopedias.

Do any of you youngsters even know what enclyclopedias are?

I sort of want to laugh because society/the education system has begun to put so VERY LITTLE emphasis on books and the written word. To have to spell correctly, much less be capable of correct punctuation, is fast becoming a lost skill and art.

I tried to read some stuff on my son's ipad/IPAD (whatever), and it was ok for quick info. But that was IT.

To read a book on one of those silly things is unthinkable. lol I sincerely hope that there are those of my grandchildren's generation that feel the same way.

Being read to From A Book when a child is very important.

 

I think I've read almost everything on Dahmer ever published. Even tons of internet case studies. At the end of the day though it's the same information written differently. I find the same to be true with most books I've read about Auschwitz too. My suggestion is find a good source and stick with the one book.
I do like Dahmer though. His personality and persona reminds me of myself. After reading his fathers book "A fathers story" I think it's called, I was shocked to discover his actual child life and growing up struck more similarities with my childhood than his persona did.
There's also a comic book novel called "my friend Dahmer" and it's a bit of a laugh but I really don't like the author who was Dahmers IRL friend. You go through the comic and it's from the friends perspective and he notices Dahmer changing as the years go by until he's just a distant, strange man. There was a part where Dahmer was really getting into the alcohol but his "friends" tried to ignore it and push him aside and end the friendship. At the end of the comic the author writes how much of a coward Dahmer was for never speaking to anybody about what he went through. I was disgusted by this comment because the whole comic portrayed his friends to completely use him, disregard him and tease him relentlessly I point my finger at the author who is the gutless coward. I have also almost on several occasions nearly started to write to the author and/or publisher to state that too hehe.

 

I don't like sharks and serial killers at all. Dinosaurs and the hypothetical concept of extraterrestrials on the other hand.. are still interesting (although not really into reading books on those subjects anymore) :cheers2:

You are worrying over nothing. Books will not become obsolete for a long time. To use a hip hop term: GET REAL! :2thumbsup: