Kindle vs. Books

I was watching an interview with John GrishamJohn Grisham today & it brought to mind the thoughts and feelings I have been having about Kindle's vs. a book.

I know what most people will say .... the Kindle is convenient because you can purchase a book on-line and download it like you can an ipod. It takes up less space than a book so no need for a bookshelf or library.

However, as with all electronics, there will be newer and better. There will be upgrades so you have to spend more money and eventually your library will be lost because the thing just breaks. Then you library will be lost forever & along with it the money you invested. Soon, if things keep going - you will not be able to walk into a library and feel the history, the ghosts of the writers who have preceded us and left their mark, their hearts, their touch and their imagination in our lives.

A book can get tattered and torn, it can burn in a fire, but it cannot break. There is nothing like holding a beautiful book in your hands, feeling it, smelling the aroma of the new or old pages. There is just something so comforting when you hold a book. I don't feel that way about the devices we can now buy. Really the same holds true with the record albums we used to cherish so much & have now replaced with ipods.

There are 1st additions that are old and worth tons of money - where will that be if the future is a Kindle? Where will the bookstores and libraries go? Where will the jobs they create go? Where will our history be? Those pages so precious will be a thing of the past - the words will be typed into a computer, sent via email & published on-line to be downloaded - no beautiful book to hold. How sad.

Grisham was talking about his new book which is $24.00 retail; however, Amazon is selling it for $9.00, which is at a loss. He was discussing the future of the book industry because of this, because of the Kindle. He was talking about how they are devaluing books. Why would you want to do that?

This is not a winning situation for us. Technology is great, but there is a limit to which we should take it. I am all about progress, but sometimes progress isn't progress - it just becomes a way for someone else to get rich & a tradition lost - maybe forever. At some point there needs to be traditions kept and protected. The integrity of some yesterdays should remain. I feel like we are in a movie like Logan's Run - what are we doing to ourselves? We need to watch so we don't lose everything of value. It is happening - right now.