The Slow Death of Print

Last Wednesday was a sad day for bibliophiles. With the announcement of the iPad and Apple’s venture into the e-book business, I see yet another sign that every book in my library will one day be considered “rare” merely because it is printed and bound.

It started with Amazon’s Kindle. Then there was the Barnes & Noble Nook, the Sony Reader … and now, the Apple iPad. It’s really an iPod Touch on steroids, with a much larger screen and an e-reader application. Oh, it’s cool, no doubt; Apple’s products always are. But I am saddened by what all of these electronic reading devices mean for the printed word.

We’re already witnessing the demise of newspapers as the Internet takes over as the No. 1 source of news. As a former journalist, this sent me into a months-long depression. Until I realized that I am one of the guilty parties contributing to the ruin of newspapers. I don’t have a newspaper subscription, and I get most of my news from the Internet.

I refuse, however, to become a willing participant to the same departure of books. No matter how nifty or convenient electronic readers may be, they are no substitute for the look, feel and smell of a tangible book. You don’t own those books on your e-readers — you merely license them — whereas with physical books, you actually own them. No one can yank them off your bookshelves (unless we slip into some sort of Fahrenheit 451 nightmare).

I spend 12 hours a day staring at screens: the computer screen, the screen on my BlackBerry, the screen on my iPod Touch, even the TV screen. The one thing I have left is books. And I am not willing to give them up to stare at yet another screen when I’m hungry for a good story.