The proverbial 'eBook' has been talked about for some time. Predicted by some to spell the end of paper books and give inexpensive access to millions of book titles for everyone.Early eBooks were plagued by short battery life (after all who wants to have to plug in your book to a wall outlet) and poor screen quality causing massive headaches and very strong squinting muscles. New players from Amazon and Sony have promised once again to put an end to print and paper. 'eInk' technology is what is supposed to sound this death knell; a screen that has 'as good or better' quality for your words and phrases and cliches than print and it only uses the battery when the screen changes pages so you can sit until your butt is black and blue and still have power to spare. Sounds great.
Maybe not.
First of all there's something strangely satisfying about hefting War and Peace or the Brothers Karamazov (Russian books, why not?) and turning each and every page from front to back. It's the difference between hiking up a mountain and driving up one. Both may be fun to some degree but you really miss that sense of accomplishment when all you have to do is push down the pedal and turn the steering wheel.
Next, do we really want the cost of publishing to go through the floor? My head goes reeling just walking in the door of Barnes and Noble or some other bookzilla store as it is. The sheer number of authors and titles is enough vertigo to make Emily Dickinson toss her tea and crumpets. Just imagine if you had the selection that you have in the blogosphere in the published book world. When I reach for a book about theology do I really want to reach out and get any old crazy who published whatever he wants? "Oh look at that, according to this 'scholar,' Jesus was really Mark Twain abducted by aliens in the tail of a near by comet in 1892. It must be true this is a published work."
This is the reason we have a system in place. Editors, publishers, costly printing processes, etc. The idiots out there need to remain safely in their obscurity having as little influence as possible.
But who knows, maybe we've lost the battle already. Heck, your reading this blog and the button below says 'Publish Post.' That must mean that I have something to say that deserves a hearing! Actually I'm just an idiot with nothing to say at all. At least, not anything that hasn't already been said.
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