5 Reasons Why Books Remain Popular

January 15, 2008 by Nez
Filed under: Books 

I recall there was talk about the paperless society when the internet started becoming popular, and predictions were made about the demise of the brick-and-mortar bookstore.

New Reader Technologies

Indeed, with recent technologies such as the Apple iPhone and Amazon Kindle, we may soon be at the point where we will have something like the PADD from Star Trek The Next Generation — multitouch screen technology, innovative, energy efficient, highly-readable displays, ubiquitous information access, etc. We would get tremendous amount of data storage, search features and convenience — who wouldn’t want one, right?

I think people would want one, as much as many want the iPhone. And there is no doubt that the ultimate electronic reader will soon come into existence. Perhaps there will be a rental fee for it, with the ability to borrow an online book for as long as we want to read it, a la the Netflix model. It’s coming, I can feel it.

But Books Will Never Die

At least for the foreseeable future. I’m sure there will be a Tipping Point when books start to decline, but just as film and photography has not seen the disappearance of painting and drawing, these new technologies will most likely play alongside Gutenberg’s legacy format for some time.

Reasons Books Still Remain Popular

The way I see it, there are (at least) 5 reasons why people still love books:

  1. Books Appeal to the Human Senses - There’s nothing quite like lifting and feeling the heft of a well-made book: the leather binding of an old classic, with its roughly-cut edges, and its lightly-textured pages, or the smooth pages of a coffee table picture book, with its colorful images, or even simply the worn-out, dog-eared pages of a favorite paperback novel. A book appeals to our sense of sight, touch, and even smell.
  2. Books Offer Convenience - While the new technology offers unparalleled ease-of-use, the book already meets a certain minimum standards of convenience that makes the media popular. A book is always “on”, ready to be read at a moment’s notice — no recharging or wireless network is ever needed to read a book.
  3. Books are Visual Reminders - To completely read a typical book usually requires more than one sitting, and the book physical form allows it to simply be placed anywhere, sure, but usually in a spot where it serves as a visual reminder to “read me”: desk, beside table, even the toilet tank top :).
  4. Books Create Social Impressions - What happens when I visit a friend or even go to a party is that I am often drawn to their bookshelves (if they have one) for a couple of reasons. One is to see if they had a book I would think is interesting — and this can become a point of conversation — and the other reason is I get a better picture of what kind of person they are: how well-read (if they have more classics), or how well-rounded (if they have a variety), or how well-versed (if they have a large number of say…cookbooks). I wouldn’t be able to be so “nosy” if all they had was a handheld reader (that’s probably password protected, or contain a metrics access function like thumbprint verification).
  5. Books have the Ah! Factor - Dog-eared pages, notes scribbled on the side, flipping through pages randomly or going straight to the index if it has one, a book sets up the stage for satisfaction of my need to continue learning, whether it’s through a nonfiction reference book or a trilogy of fiction novels. There’s a great feeling to finally reach the end of a book, when all of the weighty tome has shifted its mass from right to left. And, if it’s a great book or a great story, the feeling is even more powerful.

Books are a concrete way of sending information into the future, and for those of us on the receiving end, I would say reading a book is one of life’s simple pleasures.

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Comments

4 Comments on 5 Reasons Why Books Remain Popular

  1. ShariV on Sat, 19th Jan 2008 6:06 pm

    2. I have a huge folder brimming with e-books on my hard drive, many of them quite interesting, but it’s the reference books in my bookshelf that I turn to time and time again. I’ve downloaded audio books and enjoy listening to the classics as I do household chores. But if I want to get lost in a book, I’ll pick up a good novel from the library or a bookstore. You’ll find me hours later curled up in a comfy chair with my face in a book, completely unaware of anything else. You’re right; there’s just no real replacement for the book in printed book form.

  2. Nez on Sat, 19th Jan 2008 11:49 pm

    3. Thanks so much for the comment, Shari — and yes, all one needs is a good book, a little light and a comfy spot, whether it’s a chair, or bed, or outside on a hammock, etc., to really become immersed in another world.

  3. Simple Pleasures of Life | NezSez on Mon, 28th Jan 2008 6:58 am

    4. [...] Good Book - I’ve already expounded on why I think books will always be around, but I will still mention it in this list, because in such a gadget-heavy society, I still prefer [...]

  4. Nez on Tue, 5th Feb 2008 6:24 am

    5. Skellie over at Anywired just made a great post that complements this one. Check it out!

    http://www.anywired.com/origami-productivity-why-i-dont-want-a-paperless-life/37/

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