As an avid reader and lover of books, I find the evolution of the physical book both fascinating and unnerving. The slow and gradual shift from reading print to reading on a screen is changing how we relate to what we read and why we read. From the appearance of Google Books to the creation of the Kindle and the Nook, literature is entering the cyber age along with almost everything else around us.
The rising popularity of e-books is fundamentally changing the purpose and act of reading. The slow, but very likely, disappearance of print publications is a great disservice to us and to future generations of readers. From 2011 to 2012, the number of paperbacks sold fell by 8.6 percent, while the sale of e-books grew by 45 percent. As we speak, the printed book is slowly dying out as more and more people consume e-books.
A publishing industry insider who wished to remain anonymous was quoted in a 2012 PandoDaily article as writing that in the long run, “there’s no future in printed books. … Everybody in publishing knows this, but most are in denial about it.” While readers can speculate about what is going to happen to printed books, publishers have to begin preparing for what they know is inevitable.
The emergence of e-books demonstrates the evolution of an industry and the desire to ensure that literature remain an important part of our culture, instead of becoming obsolete as new devices and forms of entertainment arise. It demonstrates a desire from not only publishers but also readers to continue enjoying written works.
Yet the experience of reading an e-book differs from the experience, and purpose, of reading literature. For me, reading for pleasure has been about the transcendental experience it provides. It has always been about leaving my own place in the world and immersing myself in another, imaginative one. In other words, reading means mentally isolating myself.
E-books challenge this practice. Often when we read on the computer or on a tablet, we become easily distracted by other applications or the Internet. We can no longer keep our focus because we have so many possibilities at the tips of our fingers. Though this is not necessarily the case with e-readers, such as the Nook and Kindle, none of these devices allow total isolation and immersion in a piece of literature.
More than that, reading printed books can create a community, a common history and a family. As John Weirick wrote in a Thought Catalog piece last year, “Printed books are heavier, pricier and less convenient (than e-books), but they’ve got the ability to go beyond their original owner.” Print books can be shared and handed down from generation to generation. While the Kindle allows you to see other readers’ annotations on a certain book, the e-book loses the character of a printed book. It loses the history that comes along with buying a used book that is highlighted and underlined — a book that has coffee stains and smells faintly damp.
Though e-books are making literature more accessible, they are also getting rid of the history that comes along with the physical book. The printed book, with its markings and particularities, produces permanence. Gerald Richards, CEO of 826 National, a nonprofit organization helping students with expository and creative writing, told the Guardian in 2012 that watching a student with a printed book is a very different experience because “there’s that power of having something physical that they own, particularly when they write and see their name in print: It’s always there. With computers, it’s gone at the touch of a button.”
Granted, often individuals who own an e-reader are frequent readers and buy hard copies of the “books they really want,” as a 2011 article on PC Magazine’s website put it. As such, literature lovers still want and are willing to pay for the permanence of print books even as they enjoy the ease of an e-reader. But the question remains as to whether this population is large enough to save the print industry.
E-books come with their own set of positives for the reading and writing community. The trend toward e-books opens up the market for many new writers who would not have been able to see their imaginations solidified. It has also opened up new possibilities for genre fiction and for cheaper high-quality texts.
But the disappearance of print books and the increasing popularity of e-books marks a transformation in the purpose of reading for many individuals. Gone are the hours spent sitting on the floor of a bookstore deciding what book you want to buy. Now all you have to do is click a button and you’ll have a sample and — if you really want — a whole book in mere seconds.
Sami Isman ’15 owns a Kindle, but her favorite book is still her copy of “The Great Gatsby” with all its annotations and funky smell.
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