[This was originally written by me on 25JUL11 on the book-of-faces that shall not be named]
Ok - so I'm not really "mourning", as much as being really unhappy about what seems to be an on-going creeping technophilia at what I think is the expense of long-term low-tech skills and alternatives.
I'm a technologist. I make my living by, in some senses, manipulating technology and making it do what I want it to do (or at least what someone's willing to pay me to make it do). But, at the same time, I'm also an incredibly late adopter. I didn't start using CDs until years after they'd been out. Similarly for DVDs. Heck, I didn't even get a "smart" cell phone until just over a year ago.
That's not because I don't like technology. Rather, I want useful technology. And, for that matter, I don't want it at the expense of other things that I think are at least as (if not more) important.
Which brings me to what I think is a pretty bad sign of the times. Borders (the bookstore) is going away. Sure, they were responsible for killing lots of local book stores. [By the same token, I'm not really all that big a fan of "big box" type stores.] But, it's not like the demise of Borders will suddenly spawn a return of local book stores.
I have incredible and even indelible memories of spending many hours of my life at the Forbidden Planet book store in New York City. It's not there any more, and hasn't been for more years than I care to think about. Oh, yeah, there's still a Forbidden Planet... and, I'm pretty sure there's still a book store of the same name (the "mothership", as it were) over in London. But (the last time I even bothered to look) the one in NYC is down the block and on the opposite side of the street. Oh, and they don't sell books any more - just comic books. A store that was, all by itself, responsible for populating a significant portion of my library is gone... consigned to memory and the trash-bin of history.
[Caveat - I'm now going to speak from, largely, speculation, although I do know that book stores, in general are hurting and have been for quite a while.]
So... what's the point? Well - what killed Borders? Two things... both of them technological... and, in my opinion, both of them bad.
Amazon
e-books
I can hear the protestations now... "But I can get things through Amazon that I can't find at my local book store!" and similar cries of anguish. Not true - books could, pretty much, have always been ordered through your local (small or big) book store. You just had to ask for them. The only thing that Amazon brings to you is the ability to do it without going to the store and spending time to, first, look through the shelves to see if the book you want is there.
I'm actually amused, now, whenever I go to a book store and go to check out and am asked if I found everything I was looking for. That is so much the wrong question. I don't go to a book store to find what I'm looking for... I go to find everything that I WASN'T looking for. Sure, I may go because I know that some particular book is out... but I don't run in, get that book, and then run out. I browse... I wander through the store. I look at other books by authors that I may (or may not) know to see if something else strikes my fancy.
It would be a very boring trip to a book store if I didn't look at other books.
And that brings me, tangentially, to #2 - e-books.
I'll say it simply.. there are things you can do with pressed, dead trees with ink on the pages, that you can't do with an electronic device that simply displays text. Aside from the pure tactile pleasure of actually holding a book, you can flip ahead... you can, quickly, check the end of the book to see whodunit (oh, like you've never done that). Or flip back to the front, just to check a map... or the Dramatis Personae.
And let's not forget that a book never runs out of power and never needs new batteries.
I'm in the process of buying a house. One of the things that I will have done once I have it is to build a library so I can display all of my collection. Sure, it's possible that all of those books could be crammed into some sort of eReader. Highly unlikely, though... I've got a LOT of stuff that's years out of print. But... when the time comes... I will have multiple walls covered with books. Someone with an eReader... has a small toy that sits around somewhere.
Oh, and when I feel like I want to re-read something? I can go to my library and browse... reminding myself, as I do, of the stories that are contained in there.... the characters... the actions... stories that made me laugh or cry or, for that matter, both.
Could that be done with an e-book? I don't think so. It's too sterile, at least for me.
[I was going to continue on and also discuss the loss of maps and map-reading as a skill given the way that GPS and route planners are taking over... but I suspect that, if you've made it this far, you could probably fill in the rest of that set of thoughts.]
So... color me sad for the creeping loss of useful low-tech. I just hope that Barnes & Noble stays around. If not... I'd have to find somewhere else to go browsing for books.