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Dying book business
14 years ago
It's recently been brought to my attention that Borders books has declared bankruptcy and is closing something like 200 stores nationwide, including one in my hometown. Barnes and Noble has also announced that they're having financial issues as well and is considering closing a few stores in the coming years. The general consensus to this was all caused by the explosion of the eReader on to the scene. Not even Barnes and Noble's Nook is doing well, being outsold by kindles and iPads. Not gonna lie, I've got a Sony eReader, but I still have all my printed books and quite frankly prefer them to my eReader.
It's just not the same reading a screen. While yes, eReaders is to books what the iPod was to CDs and you can carry your entire library around with you, they take away from the reading experience (as far as I'm concerned). You can't get the 'new book smell' with an eReader, and despite what the commercials may say, glare will always be a problem any time you're in any sort of harsh light. A book doesn't get that annoying glare, and you also don't have to recharge your book.
When my older sister and I were really young (approx. 6 and 5 respectively) my dad read to us all the time and there was one time he sat us down back in the master bedroom and read to us for the first time his copies of The Hobbit and The Lord of the Rings, which I am currently re-reading. My dad keeps his copies of The Hobbit and The Lord of the Rings in my room since I have the market cornered on bookshelf space in our house, and my hope is that someday I can read those books to my children, or even better my dad can read to them. In my deepest literary nightmares I picture a family not unlike mine with a dad reading to his kids from an eReader, and some of their fondest memories include not a book, but a piece of metal and plastic which as far as I'm concerned is intangible. Now maybe I'm romanticizing this issue too much, but I don't think so.
In my house we weren't allowed to have video games until nearly my 8th grade year when my parents broke down and got us a PS2 and while we certainly had a lot of fun with it, the only one of us that really plays video games anymore is my younger brother, but he's never been that big into reading in the first place so it's hardly unexpected. The rest of us all over time moved back to our books, myself and my younger sister especially. As most of you know if you look at my journal headings you'll notice that I'm never without a book.
I'll go ahead and wrap this up, otherwise I'll be here until next Tuesday. Please do the book industry, and yourselves a favor and go out and buy yourself that book you've been wanting (notice I didn't say 'download'?). Take the time to sit back and read for a while. Even if it's just for half-an-hour each day, you'll slowly find yourself reading for longer and longer and find yourself less and less willing to put it down. Books love whoever picks them up, so go get some lovin'.
It's just not the same reading a screen. While yes, eReaders is to books what the iPod was to CDs and you can carry your entire library around with you, they take away from the reading experience (as far as I'm concerned). You can't get the 'new book smell' with an eReader, and despite what the commercials may say, glare will always be a problem any time you're in any sort of harsh light. A book doesn't get that annoying glare, and you also don't have to recharge your book.
When my older sister and I were really young (approx. 6 and 5 respectively) my dad read to us all the time and there was one time he sat us down back in the master bedroom and read to us for the first time his copies of The Hobbit and The Lord of the Rings, which I am currently re-reading. My dad keeps his copies of The Hobbit and The Lord of the Rings in my room since I have the market cornered on bookshelf space in our house, and my hope is that someday I can read those books to my children, or even better my dad can read to them. In my deepest literary nightmares I picture a family not unlike mine with a dad reading to his kids from an eReader, and some of their fondest memories include not a book, but a piece of metal and plastic which as far as I'm concerned is intangible. Now maybe I'm romanticizing this issue too much, but I don't think so.
In my house we weren't allowed to have video games until nearly my 8th grade year when my parents broke down and got us a PS2 and while we certainly had a lot of fun with it, the only one of us that really plays video games anymore is my younger brother, but he's never been that big into reading in the first place so it's hardly unexpected. The rest of us all over time moved back to our books, myself and my younger sister especially. As most of you know if you look at my journal headings you'll notice that I'm never without a book.
I'll go ahead and wrap this up, otherwise I'll be here until next Tuesday. Please do the book industry, and yourselves a favor and go out and buy yourself that book you've been wanting (notice I didn't say 'download'?). Take the time to sit back and read for a while. Even if it's just for half-an-hour each day, you'll slowly find yourself reading for longer and longer and find yourself less and less willing to put it down. Books love whoever picks them up, so go get some lovin'.
