Books and crooks
Books.
I was thinking about them this morning as i continue to edit mine. Several articles have been flying around the press lately making much of Google's deep indexing of books, both those in the public domain and those that are not.
This never bothered me and I think that I know why. Reading a book is an experience. Those of us who truly enjoy reading find it to be one of the most pleasant parts of the day. We all have our little habits, our routines on how we read a book. Some people curl up in an armchair, I like lo lie back on a couch. Book reading is so tactile. The feel of the cover and the creak of the binding on a new book, the way virginal pages act when first touched.
Reading is immersive. It's like subtitled films. People that don't make a habit of watching them are usually surprised at how quickly they slip into a trance whereby the reading is just another form of sensory input blending into the visual and auditory stimulus.
Now what about non-physical books? I hate reading books on a computer. EVERYONE hates reading books on a computer. The usual reason given is the lack of a tactile experience as described above. But I think that it's more than that. Computers are about finding information quickly. Our brain works in concert with our mouse-clicking hand and our darting eye to quickly find the fact that we need. This is rotten frame of mind to be in when you're reading something for enjoyment.
The idea of indexing the world's books doesn't bother me at all. It will be used for research, for reference, maybe to win a bar bet. The idea that someone will download a book, say hacked from Google, for instance, then print the book on a laser printer, bind it somehow, sit down and read it, and then that they'll enjoy it as much as they would reading a fine leather-bound book is simply ludicrious. For one thing, it'll cost $5-$10 bucks anyway to print it. For another, you won't get look and feel of the original book or even the fonting, you'll get flat, boring text. For another, people who read, read. They wouldn't want to do this. The people who will steal and read a book and be satisfied with the laser printout will be the once-a-year book reader and they will undoubtedly be stealing the Da Vinci code anyway.
The experience of reading is special, pleasant and comforting for many of us. Substituting a digital equivalent is like drinking cognac from a jelly jar. Sure you can do it and it will intellectually taste the same as being drunk from a fine heaviy leaded-crystal snifter, but it leaves something lacking.
Posted on May 18, 2006
