Re: What the future holds

"For people who truly love books, print is the only medium that will satisfy."

Here is a great article about this topic on mashable:

Three things that separate the printed book from the e-book:

1. Feel/weight/texture
2. Cover art that can be on the bookshelf for interior design
3. Conversation starter

And on the flip side:

1. Price is priority
2. Vision problems / other physical limitations
3. Shame (yea, I don't need my fellow coffee drinkers to know I'm reading Fifty Shades of Grey)

As you'll hear about me discuss my concepts for project three, I propose that human beings are obsessed and in love with the form of an object. It has more magic to it. Knowing your great-grandmother passed down to you an e-book about her homeland that should stay with you for generations to come just doesn't quite ring as beautifully as the idea of the print book passed through generations. When I can smell an e-book, then perhaps I'll reconsider my stance.

Re: Alli, My Book Binding Experience

I feel your pain, but your book press is awesome!  I am not that advanced. Praise be to all who actually got someone else to cut your book.  I decided to go the friend route and we cut (small pages at a time) for the filler pages.  I also cut the pages (with text) by hand.  However, the cover is a tad bit small and it's probably holding on for dear life.  So classmates, handle with care...not b/c it's a RAD item, but b/c it maybe slightly raggedy!  Better luck 2nd time around!

What the Future Holds

I believe books will make the "transition" as the other relics mentioned (i.e., records, cars). Just like records or antique cars, there's still a market, albeit small, and nothing is wrong with that.  The preservation of history would never be the same.  Books are the one item (I can think of) that have surpassed and held a strong sense of utility throughout history. If you think about it, we went from a tablet (stone) to bound books (Bible) back to the tablet (Kindle) again. 

People are steadily adapting to the e-reader, because of convenience, comfort, space or whatever the matter may be, but books will probably never disappear.  I agree with Callan...books may evolve into decorate items or as Hana mentioned…only printed for specialized use.  Paintings are another thing that will never fade.  There are still galleries and a desire for “brush on the canvas” no matter how advance Photoshop gets.  I have a Yashica Mat 124 medium-format camera that has been reduced to a decorative item on my fireplace mantel, and it works perfectly fine!  However, the cost, time and inconvenience of getting the film developed at one or two stores across the US is a pain.  But I love it.  I like the fact that this piece of equipment is older than me, has a different technology and transport me back in time.  You can’t replace that.

Re: Alli, My Book Binding Experience

I am right there with you, girl. I made three (3!!!) books this weekend, each of them worse than the one before. I too learned a lot and like you, I'm bound and determined to nail it for the final. All this to say, you aren't alone. On the bright side, WHEN (not if) we do an amazing job on the final, the shock and awe will be that much better :)

Your book press looks amazing, by the way! 

What the Future Holds

I see so many other parallels spread throughout our culture. When my grandmother passed away, I took over her record player and her entire collection of vinyl records. I TREASURE these. Listening to music on a record player is such a different experience for me then listening to it on a CD or streaming on my iPod. I moved this past weekend, and lugging a trunk full of records and a record player from my old house to my new house was NOT fun, but, I still did it. I think this quote from the article"The Beat Goes On: How Vinyl Records Are Making a Comeback" translates very well to the book debate: "There’s something magic about vinyl that digital music has not been able to replace,” said Curtis. “This is not a slight against digital music, but more of a testament to the enduring value of vinyl.” I think it all boils down to digital convenience and the relationship one has towards different mediums. The stronger the relationship towards these tangible items, the more likely one is to seek them out and keep them relevant in our society.

Furthermore, I'm personally very interested to see the role the education system plays in the coming years. My first contact with books came as a child when my parents, babysitters, sisters, etc. would read me stories. Then, it evolved as I transitioned from grade to grade and had required readings for class. Even in grad school, we still have required readings from books. I was normally pretty active in the summer, so kicking a soccer ball around the field took precedence over reading books. Therefore, the majority of reading at a younger age occurred in school. What if students, instead of purchasing books, were required to purchase e-readers and do their readings on that digital medium instead? They will grow up completely wired a different way ... they ALREADY ARE. My sister teachers Technology to K-5 in Howard County. K-5. Yes....Kindergarten through 5th grade.

Such an interesting debate and only time will tell. I'm confident (maybe naively confident and hopeful?) we won't have to say bye-bye in our lifetime.

Re: What The Future Holds

Calin, I studied fine art photography also (yay) with graphic design design for my undergrad, and yes I learned on manual camera with black and white film. :) I shoot only digital now, but oh gosh, I used to get nervous developing my films (and it ain't quick to develop films!), hoping that I got all the right shot(s) with correct exposure, composition, aesthetic timing, and focus. Also, during this time, digital cameras were starting to become mainstream, and I remember paying $450 for my very first point and shoot low megapixel camera. Also, I still remember my photography professor telling our class how black and white film will become more of a fine art craft while digital will cater to the commercial industry, and this is right on target. Well, anyhow, just like there's a place for film photography, I believe there's a place for printed books as well. Coming from a newsstand mag in my former life, there have always been talk about newspaper sales plummeting while magazines still standing and shielded from the same level of depreciation. I think this is due in part to the fact that people view magazines as a resource point to keep around as reference. Moreover, printed materials are tactile--my fiancé's mom still prefers physical books to digital for this reason in addition to the fact that she can trade books with friends. However, on the topic of magazines, I came across a recent article about ad sales growth for iPad editions.

When I think of printed books of the future, I think of them transitioning to forms of artwork in a sense or for tabletalk conversations. I'm thinking in particular the books we see in Urban Outfitters and Anthropologie, who carry books with a specific point of view or subject matter and with artwork to match.

Btw, these aren't my images below (gathered via google images)

Re: What The Future Holds

I love reading books on my kindle especially at night. It's great to be able to hold a book with one hand comfortably. Holding a regular print book at night is awkward and if it weren't for my kindle I wouldn't have recognized how awkward it actually is. I think I said this before, some books are worth buying mainly for their design. Education books are also worth buying in print.

I agree with Emily and Callan books in print definitely won't disappear. It'll take generations, like Emily mentioned for e-books to become more popular than print. Flipping paper pages doesn't make me appreciate a book, it really just comes down to the story. I guess that's why I see a bright future for e-books and e-readers.