...and re-embrace the Gutenberg OS.
Because books were meant to be stored on shelves, not on the digital dildo of the moment. They were meant to be held, read, admired, cherished, displayed and eventually passed on, not downloaded, copied, pasted, and stored as binary code on some goddamned corporate-controlled HAL 9000 with a catchy, bullshit, focus group-derived name...
"Dickens, open my Kurt Vonnegut file, please."
"I'm sorry, Chad. I'm afraid I can't do that. Your Vonnegut file has been deleted as a result of our new corporate guidelines on the downloading of seditious and/or obscene materials. We regret the inconvenience. Would you care to download the latest young adult paranormal romance thriller* instead?"
All the goldbugs bitch and moan about the ephemeral nature of fiat currency, but no one ever says anything about fiat literature. Why is that?
But I digress. The original point of the blog (and really, it did have one, sort of) was to give a link to Steve over at Querencia, who recently put up a couple posts here and here with pics of some of his bookshelves. Proper bookshelves, chockablock with books, memories and mementos.
Cool stuff, and definitely worth a look. That's what I consider a proper e-reader (eclectic reader), one that never needs to be upgraded or replaced, and one that sports an indefinite battery life...
* Actual (and large) genre (with its own aisle!) I observed during a recent visit to a Barnes & Noble. The shelves were packed with titles and the aisle was packed with browsers. We're all fuckin' doomed...
*Definitely not my bookshelf, though I wish it were... the pic is from Shakespeare & Co. in Paris.
Thanks, Chad-- I am prety ferocious about the subject too!
ReplyDeleteDAMN. I FINALLY manage to post here-- and promptly spell "pretty" wrong...
ReplyDeleteI'm with you, brother. Just can't bring myself to use an e-reader. I'm a fairly digital guy, certainly no luddite, but if I pay money for a book I want to put it on a shelf when I'm done and, hopefully, pick it up again someday. If I just want to read it and never see it again, I check it out from the library.
ReplyDeleteMy wife's argument for owning a Kindle is "now I have all of my books in one place". I reminded her of this when she left all of her books at the Denver airport during a layover this summer.
That's OK, Steve. I misspell "Gutenberg" as "Gutenburg" virtually every single time I type the damn word...some kind of mental thing...
ReplyDeleteMark, I literally laughed out loud at that...thus far my wife has resisted the Kindle, but we do both have iPhones and I've caught her reading books on hers. Mine, on the other hand, is good only for phone calls and Angry Birds...
Live with a wife and kid (and another on the way) on 450 square feet and a job that implies having a reference library of at least 100 volumes - and you'll feel different about E-books, I swear! 8-)))
ReplyDeleteI'm so of two minds about this. Love books, grew up in a house full of them, have read thousands, tens of thousands of them over the decades. Love the art of books; the illustration, the bindery, the layout, the typography. I've designed and printed them.
ReplyDeleteBut I moved my very extensive collection of books recently. I've moved my extensive collection of books quite a few times. Books are bulky and books are heavy.
I like roaming around in the woods, and love having some reference books along to help me identify plants and birds and help me recall how to tie that obscure knot. But books are bulky and books are heavy.
I have to admit that the appeal of a massive collection of books that can fit on a small, light, portable device is very strong. The idea that I can fit every animal track, species identification, medical reference, knot tying guide, etc., etc., in my possession on a little digital device is very appealing.