“I fear the day when the technos decide that paper books are obsolete and we are reading from PC screens and iPods and eBooks, and we never again experience the little rush of opening a new book and cracking the spine and smelling the print and diving deep into the thoughts of the writer.” – Suzanne Somers in Forbes.
The TeleRead take: In high school, Ms. Somers “suffered from dyslexia and was a poor student,” according to Wikipedia. One wonders how she would have done with e-book-related technology and the easy ability to change fonts, text and background colors and the rest. Or how about the mix of a visual display and speech synthesis that enabled TeleRead volunteer Amos Bokros–who suffers from a similar condition–to get his college degree? Meanwhile, given the tiny speck that e-books have of the book market, it’s rather unlikely that a secret cabal of techies will decide the fate of the publishing industry.
Photo: From opening credits of Three’s Company, via Wikipedia.
Well…I’d say that lady has a very strange attitude to books.
For me, a book is mainly the words. The words contain the ideas of the author that are then transformed into living and colourful images in my brain.
The book itself is the medium that contains the words and in my opinion has only two important roles.
1) To catch the reader’s (buyer’s) eye and convince him to buy the book through a nicely done cover and backtext with summary of the book (both of which you can get in an ebookstore…)
2) To provide easy and comfortable access to the author’s words, something that ebook devices can do a hundred times better than any pbook ever could (no holding open the book, no losing the page, no heavy and inconvenient harcovers that you can hardly move around, no tearing pages when turning, reading one-handed without the need to use the second hand to turn pages…)
So, what the lady is actually saying is, that she values the frame as much (or maybe even more) than the picture…
While I respect other people’s opinions, I find it hard to keep quiet about things like this. Hanging on to the “form” is one of the things that is holding us back in so many cases and causes more than just additional pollution and tree-killing…
And by the way…I’ve never liked the smell of ink…^^
Good post, Roland.
I remember years ago how some preferred Albums over CD’s and feared that CD’s would be the demise of album art because the art would be too small. Eventually, CD’s will go the way of digital download.
I buy my music for the music not the container. I hold the same opinion about books too.
I was wondering why Forbes would care what Ms. Somers’ opinion of ebooks was. FYI, she has “written 16 books since the ’70s.” Interesting.
Somewhat ironically, the Forbes article has a large Sony Reader advertisement next to it.
I don’t see how you reach the conclusion that she is an e-book-phobe. It’s not in the piece you quote. There she seems more afraid of sweeping decisions made by them.
Oh, and in polite company we don’t cite Forbes.
Hi, Branko. You’re very welcome to your interpretation of Ms. Somers’ remarks.
As for Forbes, check ’em out–the magazine has run great pieces against the Sonny Bono Copyright Term Extension Act. I call ’em as I see ’em. Forbes and I would be at odds over cosmic issues such as wealth distribution. But I’m not gonna banish the name “Forbes” from the TeleBlog–I love to be “rude” when it comes avoidance of PC.
Hey, Cory Doctorow didn’t just quote Forbes; he appeared there championing a good cause.
Thanks,
David
“You’re very welcome to your interpretation of Ms. Somers’ remarks.”
You make it sound like I’ve been dropping acid. Instead, I’ve been reading the article you referred to. You should try it; it’s enlightening.
In Ms. Somers’ worldview, important technological decisions are taken by unnamed entities that affect everybody, and that she is powerless to prevent. One such decision is to replace all paper books by e-books. She sees the e-book as inevitable.
Does that mean she hates e-books? It’s not clear from the article, but I doubt it. She clearly prefers the printed word, but she has also good news: even in the e-book, it is the word that is most important, not the form it was cast in. I am sure, based on the articles, that she’d buy e-books in this make-believe world without p-books of hers.
Call her a technophobe if you must; I’m sure it is nearer the truth.
Oh, as for Forbes; a couple of years ago, they printed a short series of articles on Linux. Each article was filled with inaccuracies, inconsistencies and other faults. I don’t think it helped that these ‘mistakes’ exactly mirrored the sort of Linux FUD that its enemies liked to spread in those days. After the first article was run, the editor-in-chief was warned by angry Linux zealots that one of his writers was selling them complete nonsense of a level that made Jayson Blair’s contributions to the New York Times sound truthful and seem harmless. Regardless of these warnings, Forbes kept publishing the stories.
I realize the quality of any publication is gauged by the best they print, not by the worst, but my mental make-up is such that I cannot ignore the latter. (Which is why I gave up reading newspapers entirely.)
Branko, I’m very much for technical accuracy. So right on regarding your concerns in that area! Thanks very much for sharing your thoughts on Forbes, from the perspective of someone who cares a lot about Linux.
The best accuracy solution for Fobes and others publications is an open, interactive approach where reader comments are displayed more prominently than they are at the moment. Moderate if need be, but do play up reader comments.
As for Ms. Somers, I continue to believe she is both an e-bookphobe and techphobe in general (she apparently doesn’t appreciate the greater variety of content that e-books could bring her—not to mention the other reasons I’ve noted).
I wish I had more time; I’d love to reach her and see if I could change her mind.
Thanks,
David