Working Up

by Dwayne Phillips

eBooks are taking over the world. Well, they won’t finish off the published paper books this weekend, but the trend is there. As with most things, I see some good and some bad in this.

I think it is good that college textbooks are becoming available in digital form. Pay $10 for a PDF file instead of $150 for a hardback book, print a few pages here and there, and keep the PDF until you lose interest. I still do a lot of reading as part of researching technical topics. I am happy to pay $10 and go the PDF file route.

What good is a printed book? One thing is convenience. I can buy a small paperback novel, carry it with me, and read it whenever and where ever I wish. I don’t need a computer or electricity. I read the little book, give it away, set it away, put it in a place where someone else will find it and read it.

The above works for cheap books, but what about the expensive printed book? A $150 hardback book is great if I refer to it for 15 years ($10 per year). That requires the book to be something you read again and again. That rarely works for books on computer software as the software changes every year or two. I bought a fairly expensive book to help me start working with this WordPress blogging software. That was okay, but it did hurt a bit.

So what will the final book published be? I think it will be the same as the first book published – the Bible. Substitute any sacred text as fits you. People tend to read scared texts over and over year after year. We seek guidance on big issues that occur again and again in our lives. A PDF file would work here in many cases, but there is the portability and ease of use that comes from the printed book. Then there is the issue of technical compatibility. The PDF wasn’t around 30 years ago. I have Bibles that are older than that. I hope to be reading these Bibles 30 years hence. Will PDFs still work in 2039?

I think eBooks will take over the vast majority of the world. Not this weekend, but in my lifetime. Some books, however, will continue to be published on paper with leather binding. Ah, the feel of a high-quality leather binding.