"Books Still Matter" excerpt...

Found this a few weeks ago in one of my sources for my research paper & really was fascinated by it.... wanted to share it with all of you & see what your thoughts are about the reading experience? I never thought about it before as how this writer states in. Do you believe the concept of the book will stay the same even in the digital age? Do you think the book will be kept sacred in a way? Enjoy!
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"Personally, I collect more books than I need or can possibly read in my lifetime. Visitors to my house sometimes ask, 'Have you really read all of these?' and the answer, of course, is no. That isn't the point. The collector always wants to own more than he can experience all at once. It needs to be enough to overwhelm. Possibility must always overtake satisfaction. A collection is one of the only ways to have too much and not enough at the same time, to be consoled by what cannot be known completely. This is another way in which reading books serves as some kind of religion.

While immersed in a book, I always feel that that book was meant to be read one reader at a time, written precisely for his or her particular attention, an object waiting to be lit by a singular imagination. The interaction between reader and writer is as intimate as a penitent in prayer. If it is well done, a book will allow you to suspend your awareness of the medium, it wants to be fed to the fires of your attention..." [John Donatich]

Interesting topic! I am a book lover and would never swap my groaning bookcase for a kindle although, my family keep wanting to buy me one...No! No! No!

Most of them I have actually read or have at least tried to read..some came on the recommendation of others and did not live up to my expectations but..still they lie there in the hope that maybe someday haha!!!

I collect a lot of books (mostly children's) simply because I love the illustrations...a couple that come to mind right now...The Wizard of Oz which is a pop-up book but also a limited edition...love that one! The Enchanted Doll's House Theatre is another beautifully illustration/pop-up, it even has a little envelope with tickets to a couple of ''events' happening in this theatre. My latest purchase..DC Comics..A Visual Chronicle. Superman/Batman through the years...great book :) So...yeah...rambling a bit in my enthusiasm I guess :)

Another book I loved is Between the Lines by Jodi Picoult and her daughter Sam (I do also read adults books you know haha)..This one took me to a whole different dimension and..it's definately worth a read. The whole idea (without giving too much away) is that...when you close the book do the characters continue on with the story or do they freeze until the book is opened once again...interesting thought...yeah?

Anyway....thanks for starting this thread, I appreciate it as you can see lol!

I love books. I love the smell of the pages, makes me sneeze tho lol. I think the yellowing pages are pretty. In thrift shops and garage sales theyre the ones I look for first, unless I see a vintage guitar that is. Anyhow, in these times, Im not really sure if itll continue to live on, the "book". Maybe, but highly probably in a different form. Eh, it always been that way, cave drawings to scrolls to books to digital thigies. I think what matters is the spirit if reading, like educating oneself through reading or just merely having fun reading, yknow, like that.
... Hey Hellon, I would love to see that DC comics of yours. :)

Hey....I really bet you would....they are awesome!!! I really surprised myself with this purchase...got a gift voucher for $50 for some shop...really looked around for something special and...finally found it...had to add another 20 bucks to my find but...I LOVE it...goes through the ages of all the original drawings...

I'm old fashioned, I hate technology. I think books are important....hell anymore, if a kid is reading something on a kindle or ipad, there is probably a button they can click for the dang thing to pronounce a word they cant pronounce. Where as books, we had to 'sound it out' to figure it out....There is no challenge for young minds with easy way of doing things and reading and understand how to pronounce and read words is important. I think its ridiculous, technology Lol...

as far as reading books....I will always be a hard cover book reader. I enjoy turning pages, not scrolling on a screen. yuck. And not only are people on their phones or lap tops all day, staring into a light, lets add reading a book to the damage of the eye sight. Sooner or later this world will have more eye problems than anything haha.

I also hate seeing people in church on ipads and such...I will also have a bible, not an ibible on an ipad. . I feel its distracting to be in church and on a kindle/ ipad reading the bible...theres always the possibility of checking your facebook or getting on the internet...like people cant live without these things.

sigh* I was born in the wrong generation.

^^Yeah you betcha! lol. I saw a similar book but its Wonder Woman. The next day I came back for it, it was gone though. Ehh, Im sure itll pop up again somewheres and scream at me "Buy me now before I disappear again!" :D
... I dont know most ppl dont like Kelley Jones but hes one of my fave Batman artists, yknow, the exaggerated ears and cape like its a mile long lol. Highly probably youve noticed his unusual work in your book.

I LOVE books and have been a fanatic of books sure i love technology as well i can't seem to say i haven't read a book on a computer BUT i love the feel of the book on my hands it's like holding a child to me it's special to me

Love everyone's thoughts, and you're welcome Hellon, I knew you'd like this lol.... I see Jodi Picoult's books everyone I go and many people at school have read her works and recommended her but I haven't read a single one yet! She has quite the collection and I've heard some of the stories are tear-jerking, but I should start reading sometime soon!

I definitely think books will not lose their significance or importance. They're such a tradition to so many people and cultures... I only think the medium will shift and change, causing the publishing industry to adapt if they choose. People (and poets like us) will return to the reliability of books as there is something guaranteed in the tangibility of them, and it is almost reflective to be able to hold the book and ponder the words for yourself. It's very personal when you can see the ink on paper, and it feels like a gift solely made for you.

Ah I'm not the only one who likes the smell of books!!! =) I love walking into a bookstore and smelling musty pages over new ones..

That's such a good point Chels! I mean we do have to sound it out for ourselves if we see it, where on the Internet we can automatically search for a word, how to pronounce it. I put in my paper how we may get to the core of the issue quicker with digital print, but we miss how the inferences were made and what perspectives the author developed. There's so much more of a learning experience with reading and having to pick what's important, not just cut things out.

Books can indeed still be sacred even during this new digital age. There is still this aesthetic experience and satisfaction that comes with reading from a book, with the mind eating up each page. You can write along the margins and make your thoughts as golden as the book's age. Having a novel, and holding one creation between your hands is creates a sacred value to the art. Something which is the digital age fails to suffice.

Kindles are fine (portable, pretty cost-efficient, good accessibility for the visually impaired, etc.) but I don't think books are going anywhere. (I'm speaking as a future librarian, so I may be biased.)

But even apart from the fact that there are still more print books being published than ever before, and apart from the fact that books are more likely to last the next 500 years than eBooks, I think it comes down to the fact that people are still physical, symbol-driven beings who like physical and symbolic things. The most important texts in our life are still paper-based: birth and death records, marriage licenses, divorce papers, car titles, etc. While more of those things will probably go digital, we still have a sense that forms printed on paper are more real and legitimate and binding than things that exist digitally. At the very least, paper will last for a long time as a format with ceremonial purpose, I think.

But I'm hoping for more than that. People form bonds with particular books as objects, not just as stories. The intangible is tied up with the physical.

Also, a nice sheet of long-fiber, linen or rag-based paper is beautiful, versatile, and likely to last a very long time.

I've just found the most awesome children's book...well I think so anyway. Each page...this one is called Ocean Hunt (there are others) has pictures of Coral and different fishes on each page and they are all covered with some sort of plastic coating...don't know what it's called. Anyway, there is a cardboard cut out of a torch attached with ribbon and this goes between each page/plastic which seems to light the page up...Wow...it's like majic haha!!! One side of each page tells you the names of each species with a little discription of each then asks the kids questions...eg...how many sharks are there in the picture..very educational and just a treasure to own IMO...loving it...pity it's a Christmas gift for one of my grandkids haha!!!

Forgot to comment on past posts...thank you for bumping this up Hellon and expressing your thoughts.

"I think it comes down to the fact that people are still physical, symbol-driven beings who like physical and symbolic things."

- Well said Sibs! I find a lot of truth in that...

Hellon that sounds so creative!! The only book I remember I loved for it's color was The Rainbow Fish because all of the scales were shiny lol.

That sounds very informative though and cute. Haha, at least you found it! How interesting for a child with the pictures and questions that I'm sure will spark curiosity. Love the ocean!