Good News - Books Will Be Around for Another Ten Years

This just in from Instapundit:

Actual books will be around for at least ten years, I'd guess, and maybe longer.

Glenn is reacting to this post from Michael Hyatt, president and CEO of Thomas Nelson who says:

While most publishers will admit that reference content is better accessed on the computer, almost all believe that the traditional non-fiction book or novel will never be replaced with a digital equivalent. I say, “baloney.” It's coming. The sooner publishing executives get their collective heads out of the sand and face the future, the better prepared they will be to meet it.

I am convinced that we are only one device away from a digital publishing tsunami.

Man, I'm going to hate that if Hyatt is right.  I spend a good deal of time reading on the computer but the computer just can't compare to a real book to me.  I'd be curious if there is anyone out there who would care to comment on the difference between reading books and computer screens.  To me, reading a real book is much better.   

And, if you are interested, in the post continuation I quote Michael Hyatt on what this new digital publishing device might look like.

From Michael Hyatt:

So if, as I stated earlier, we are only one device away from a digital revolution in book publishing, what might such a device might look like? Here’s what I envision:

• It looks similar to a tablet PC slate. No keyboard, no monitor, and it folds in half.
• It is the same size and thickness as a hardcover book, say 6" by 9" by 1/2". Unfolded, it is 12" x 9" by 1/4". It feels great in your lap. It can even be bent slightly like a book, so you can curl up on the sofa and read away.
• It uses a tablet PC interface with a built-in stylus that feels like a high-end pen. You can use it to make menu selections, enter text (via handwriting recognition), or highlight passages in books.
• It weighs less than a 256-page hardcover book (about one pound). It therefore dramatically changes the shape and heft of your computer bag.
• It has a battery life of 12–18 hours.
• It completely replaces your computer and runs all your favorite applications.
• It has 256 gigabytes of flash drive storage. It has room for tens of thousands of songs, photos, movies—and books. Because it has no moving parts (unlike a hard drive), it is faster and more reliable.
• It is wi-fi enabled (of course).
• It includes a software application similar to iTunes for the purchase and download of books. Heck, maybe it's just a modification of iTunes.
• It has a simple, elegant book reading application, similar to Microsoft’s Reader.
• It has a docking station that allows you to use a keyboard, mouse, external monitor, etc.
• It runs an Apple operating system. (Okay, I couldn't resist.)

Comments

[Teem]

Personally I love books. I love the look of them. I love the feel of them. I love opening a new book. I love being able to highlight passages and make marks in the margins.
Could books disappear? Maybe, but I hope not.

[Steve S]

I love the idea of a book-reader type of computer. However, I would prefer it to be a dedicated device that doesn't try to meet the needs of a computing world. Kinda like an MP3 player does one thing REALLY well -- it plays tunes. Great portability, great speed and power, but designed for one main purpose.

Other than that, I'm all for the description offered! :)

steve :)

[Jack O'Neill]

Books are a cheap, durable data base, and don't require an outside power source other than the reader. Now, when I have a simple question that used to send me to a dictionary or encyclopedia, I go to the PC and look it up in Google. If there is more to it, like trying to explain the meaning and origin of the word "meet" in the liturgy- e.g."..It is meet and right so to do..." I picked up our old compact edition of the Oxford English Dictionary, a two volume thing, each of which weighs ten pounds, and requires a magnifying glass to read, and sat down with the book on my lap and went through the four inches of definitions and quotations until I was able to see how "meet" meant "fitting", along with other things, and how it was used, and how long ago. I bet there is an online OED, but I haven't got one, and I can pick up and put down the book at my convenience, without having to interact with a machine. When the computer becomes as ubiquitous and as handy to use as a book, even an unhandy book like the OED, we may get away from books. I am no kid, and I don't see that coming in my time. But I am a White Sox fan, and I didn't see that coming either, so don't back up my bet.

[burttd]

Whether or not books are replaced or eclipsed by some sort of digital reader is one question. Whether they *should* is another.

I for one find it difficult to deeply interact with any sort of reading online. To really dig into it, I have to print it out, hold it in my hands, read it, mark it up. I'm sure there are psychologists and sociologists who could really explain the difference between reading a book and reading electronic screens. I just *know*, instinctively, that there *is* a difference, and that the loss of the printed word would be a grave loss indeed.

[Michael Hyatt]

You might want to read my follow-up post. I address some of the issues raised by those who commented:

http://www.michaelhyatt.com/workingsmart/2005/12/more_thoughts_o.html

[Jeremy Pierce]

There was some plausibility to this until I got to the last line. At that point, I realized that there's virtually no chance of this catching on. There's one reason I've never even considered getting an iPod. It's made by Apple.

Of course, the main reason books can't be replaced is because they look so nice sitting on a shelf.

[pilgrim]

I prefer books--you just can't get comfy with a computer-even a laptop.
And even the handheld devices aren't the same.

And then there's the new book smell, and the old book smell--I love those.

[Gary]

Until you can get as comfortable with your computer screen, as you can with a book, and look at it for hours, digital novels will go nowhere. When is the last time you could stand reading anything with 300 pages on a computer that you didn't have to. I suspect almost never. The day that changes is the day the book will disappear.

[Barb]

Give me a book any day, over an E-book on the Internet! I could never sit and read an entire book on my monitor. I hate LONG articles or posts. One loses me, when they type too much!

And,what is going to happen to those who don't use computers? There are lots of those people around. And, they love books just like we do. I can't see all books going digital. They would have to charge for us to read them, and who is going to pay for a book that they never handle? Not me.

[Ken]

And at the first EM pulse (like a terrorist truck-nuke, a Chinese missile from orbit, or even a near-miss lightning strike) all your books go away. Forever.

[Catez]

I prefer to read a whole book as a book. it's harder to do online for some reason. Maybe because I can't lie down on the sofa.

[David]

This sounds like a good topic for Doug Groothuis, the constructive curmudgeon, to comment on. As for me, too much time in front of the computer gives me headaches.

[Sarah Bray]

I've been on my computer now for 45 minutes, and when I look away from it, everything else is fuzzy. My eyes are stinging. I can't sit too close to my screen or it's uncomfortable. Can one even imagine having to hold a book at least 3 feet away in order to read it quasi-comfortably? What about when you get sucked into a book for hours? We'll all be blind by 40.

[Chuck]

I hope that books stay around. They are a lot easier to carry around worrying about potential damage to an electronic unit. And I find that I can spend a lot more time with book than with a monitor.