I love how she speaks with such love and admiration for books. It definitely is. And this ability to be so connected with print is what makes up the majority of why I love print as opposed to digital. Too true. It seems that as we "progress" technologically, we are just distancing ourselves more and more from the natural world and the shift towards digital media is just continuing this trend. And aren't the pleasantries with fellow humans what makes life worth living? What makes one day different from the next? What makes us us and others themselves?
I don't want to live in a world where I could go a day without physically in the presence of another.Hard copy is a full-on sensory experience.
Paper, because it is real, provides an organic connection to our natural world: The tree from whence the paper came; the sun, water and soil that nourished the tree. By contrast, a digital device is alien, man-made, hard and cold to human flesh.
Everything at the click of a button has made it less likely that we’ll take the trouble to exchange pleasantries with a fellow human.
I think she makes a lot of valid points in the article but it bothers me when people claim that you can't get the same level of connection with a book if you read a digital copy. Perhaps that's how it is for her (and I'm sure lots of other people) but I don't think it's right to make a blanket statement like that. I read on my kindle and books in print because I enjoy both, but I don't feel like I'm missing out if I read a digital copy. I think it's also important to note that digital print makes information much more accessible. I used to live in a place where I couldn't just go buy a book and the kindle was an absolute revelation when I got it.
Oh my gosh. Hardcover books are the best. That feeling of carefully sliding some massive tome off of your shelf is divine. Too bad I don't own any... I sincerely hope that physical books are able to stay around. I like the idea of physically possessing the words and thoughts and knowledge and prose that came from someone's imagination. It's simply unreal.
Yeah definitely. Physical books are really the only way to secure that those thoughts stay with us.