Len Edgerly talks to star librarian Nancy Pearl, about her project with Amazon to rescue old favorite books of hers which are out of print.
It is interesting how Nancy says she only feels like she is reading a real book when she is reading it on paper.
Well, admittedly many still feel that way, but what's interesting is that she is not trying to explain/justify why it is like this, or saying this is how it should be, as many people are, thus coming across as luddites. She apparently realizes that this is just a personal experience which varies, and we may or may never know the causes. Kudos.
It will be quite interesting to see how fast paper publishing will diminish as digital publishing grows, and how small paper publishing will get before stabilizing. Is there a sufficient mass of people to support it, beyond a tiny art niche, once everything is available cheaply to everybody digitally? Or in twenty years, will things only be printed on paper when there's a need for an expensive cultural statement, or to make a book into a special art object in itself with remarkable design, types of paper, and such?
... Or, okay, in the case when an ebook has become such a big hit that there is money to support printing and distribution to the parts of population who still prefer paper books?
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