Will the iPad replace paper books?

With the introduction of the Apple iPad and the general belief that this gadget, along with gadget like Amazon’s Kindle, will change the way people read, I feel we need to step back and think of all the implications before we boldly charge forward and accept this new technology.

In most simplistic terms, the pleasure (and art) of reading a book is a tactile experience – holding a leather bound volume George Orwell's classic novel 1984 simply cannot be beaten. It’s an intangible event that encompasses more than simple reading; somehow, holding a gadget, however elegant, does not really have the same quality and feel about it and it somehow diminishes the whole process.

For me, the whole experience of sitting comfortably holding the book of my choice is a form of therapy that requires the ‘touch’ of a real book.

When I go into a book store and purchase a copy of Lady Chatterly’s Lover, or Clockwork Orange  I do it because I want to, and I have the freedom to choose a book and not be influenced by anyone. With digital books, I quite often find the ‘book store’ giving me ideas about the books that I should read, based on what I have read before – this is good isn’t it? The book store is highlighting books I may not have found. On the face of it I agree, however, if you really delve into what is happening then there are some worrying aspects that could surface in the future.

Amazon, Apple, Barnes and Noble all have online stores for books – every purchase you make is recorded and this goes into an algorithm to decide what other books I could read. Now take this one step further, especially in the terrorist climate we live in, and use an algorithm to find readers who perhaps are reading about extreme religion, bomb making and terrorism – it could simply be out of genuine interest to understand, but immediately a flag goes up and the words ‘potential terrorist’ could be applied. This form of profiling already goes on at airports, so the next step is to profile people’s reading habits – the words ‘Big Brother is Watching you” suddenly burn into my brain.

This is a scary proposition and has been much discussed by many better writers than me.

My biggest concern about the introduction of these electronic gadgets is that they will link into the web and provide vast amounts of text that are readily available on the web. I could write my own eBook, publish it and it could then be read by anyone. While you may think that there’s nothing wrong with this, there are several inherent problems.

Firstly, most published books go through vigorous editing, applying standards of grammar and spelling that are far superior to most normal people. Most people, when reading, actually improve both their grammar and spelling, just by simple repetition and constant reading – however, if there are a lot  of books that are written by amateurs, then the standard of grammar and spelling will not be the same, and this will be passed on to the readership.

Secondly, most published books go through rigorous checks to ensure that they reference sources, and that their sources are indeed legitimate. On the web, it’s very easy to publish an article, or book for that matter that is totally based in lies and deceit ; however, most people will wrongly make the assumption that as it’s on the Apple then it is right – this sort of freedom of information also leads to a freedom of disinformation, and most people are not willing or don’t know how to research to see if something is fact.

Reading is a right that we all have; I can go into a market or a bookstore and usually pick up a book for $1 – there are usually many thousands of books like this. While you will still be able to go into an e-store and pick up bargains, this assumes that you already have an e-reading gadget or want to buy one.

These gadgets are expensive, and as the market progresses there will be certain publications that will become subscription based – or have a differentiation between free content and paid content – this leads to a form of elitism that will probably grow.

As many bookstores begin to fight bankruptcy, the good old paperback will start to disappear – this will also happen as publishers reduced cost by not printing books – this means that to read you MUST own a gadget – this removes a basic freedom from us, and also means that millions of people will simply not be able to afford to read – the implications of this divide between those who can and those who can’t is simply terrifying.

This is a sub-set of reading e-books, but a growing one. As more and more devices become available, they will offer ‘speaking’ modes (the Kindle already allows for this). While I already listen to books on tape in the car, I still read – however, as the number of ‘books on tape’ increases you may find that people will stop reading and will begin listening instead – this means that they are not looking at the words and therefore any benefit in terms of spelling will be greatly diminished.

While I do feel that the eReader does have a useful place in society it must not replace the written book. In a worst case scenario where the world lost its ability to create electric (or batteries) – don’t laugh it has happened before  - man has invented glass and batteries and then lost the knowledge – then all these ebooks and digital books would be unreadable – so if we’ve transferred our knowledge onto them, it will simply disappear. Just think about the knowledge lost in the Great fire of Alexander. So at the very least we should continue to have printed copies of every book as well as digital copies.

I doubt that progress will slow, and eventually the printed book will become a thing of the past, and that is a real shame – I for one will keep the paper books I have and treasure them until the day I die.