Oh wait, I need to change that...

The thing that I like and found most interesting about digital books is that they can be changed more easily.  Instead of making a new edition because you found a typo and then attempting to sneak around and burn all the evidence [as I probably would… in my head] you can go in and change it fairly easily.  What is written digitally is less permanent.  If you find something mortifying, you can also take it down completely without too much trouble.  Sure, you may still fret that people  have seen it and now think you’re crazy, but it at least no one else will see it, right?  Well, unless it’s been copied around the internet.

The downside is the lack of ownership.  You no longer own this awesome book collection that can be displayed and passed down.  Though, the inability to be passed down seems like a minor thing when you think of how many people really would delete all of the books from someone’s computer or tablet.  It’s just like music.  Still, there is the sense of loss when you don’t own a physical copy of a book.  I only have a couple of ebooks and I still want to buy the physical copies.

I get my news online

Honestly, my best idea of when print is visible for just a moment and superseded by the internet is in newspapers.  Newspapers may be written to be glimpsed in stores, but most people just move past them to the internet.  Hardly anyone pays attention to the printed newspaper anymore as it is easier and cheaper to simply look everything up online.  The same news is there and even more that may reflect the reader’s interests better than what was printed in their home city or state that day.

One could also say that this happens in one’s thoughts.  They may write something and say to themselves “This would be a great book!  But it’s much easier to just post to the internet… and I’m not really looking to make money.”  In this case, print is forgotten for a chance to tell their story to the world.  Even with print on demand, I feel like people are more likely to post to a blog first. 

Self Publishing: The Good and the Bad

I love seeing it become easy for authors to publish their books.  It can be difficult for someone with a great story to get it out into the world and this helps to take some this issue away, though this person would still need to be able to effectively market his or herself.  Still, print on demand publishing also gives someone the option to have a nice copy of the book for his or herself, even if they are not interested in being known. 

However, I do understand the trouble of more published work that really isn’t that good.  It can be found all over the internet in random stories posted to blogs whether fan fiction or original.  There are also those who write and write and honestly don’t have any idea what they are writing about.  They can claim to be an expert in physics, but not know what gravity is.  On top of that, typos are easy to make and without editors or rigorous scrutiny by the writer can be overlooked.  There have been many occasions where I’ve looked over something that I had written months later and yelled “How did I miss that?!” before mentally sinking into a corner of shame. 

This will surely replace paper! Oh wait...

I always find it funny how often people claim that something will be replaced by something bigger and better.  There is always something revolutionary that is supposed to make the book or newspaper outdated and useless and, really, only one has actually happened.  The newspaper may not have been replaced by the telephone, radio, or even by the TV for the most part, but I don’t think that many people get physical newspapers anymore.  Most seem to just look up articles online.  However, books are a very different story.  While many prefer the ease of simply looking up articles that have interest to them with a newspaper, this is not so true for novels and books.  There is something about the feel of a book that is difficult to get over.  Many spend their whole day at work one the computer and it feels nice not to have to look at a screen anymore.  Some like to write all over their books, making notes and highlighting and this just doesn’t feel quite write on something that is digital.  Then there are those who just love the look of a book and, of course, their large book collection.  No matter what comes out next, I doubt it will abolish print all together.

Gass Response and the Old Sketchbook

According to Gass, books are more material than words on a screen and this helps to give them more meaning.  While words on a screen disappear with just the click of a button, words in a physical book linger on their pages and the books usually outlive those who originally possess them and make their way to someone else.  There is also something special about the look, feel, and smell that cannot be replicated by screen as well as the concept of ownership.  Even while science community appears to be posting more and more information online, there is still much to be found in the library.  There, people can wander books and found that which catches their eyes.  They can sift through books and possibly find things more interesting than what they had been searching for before.  Overall, even while some who claim to be “forward thinking” say that print is a thing of the past and that everything will become digital, Gass believes that the printed word will live on.

I bought my small sketchbook from the Blick on State St. about four years ago now.  I had been wanting a nice one for awhile at the time and finally decided on a black Moleskine that  would fit in my oversized purse without taking up too much room.  It was perfect and I loved it, making sure that no harm came to my nice little sketchbook.  Of course, I spilled coffee on it within the first week and had to scramble around to make sure it was not too badly damaged.  I got lucky, it was hardly noticeable.  About two years later, it was filled and no longer in near perfect condition.  I’ve bought new sketchbooks since, of course, but I still remember my excitement when I finally filled it.  It was the first sketchbook that I’d actually filled and not lost or forgotten about as I became distracted by another. Now, it has a small but noticeable rip in the spine and the pages are a little frayed as it sits tucked away somewhere only to be disturbed when I decide to go back and make faces at some of the terrible sketches that fill it.