Comment from euonymous
Time February 1, 2010 at 6:13 pm

That would be acceptable if everyone had access to all or nearly all published books. It doesn’t work that way. Your local library or library network provides, for free (as much as anything paid for with tax dollars and donations is free), access to a vast number of publications and media which individuals either cannot afford or will never know exist.

Still, the function of an editorial cartoon is to make us smile while kicking us in the butt.
:-)

Comment from GoodLife
Time February 1, 2010 at 8:38 pm

As a member of the local county library board, I can say that this has been a point of discussion for a couple years. Right now printed books are still the number one service, but computers and internet access are growing rapidly while books are only slowly growing. As a consideration of taxpayer’s dollars, do we continue to invest in dead trees or do we offer a larger selection by going electronic? Do we cater to those that can afford the readers or do we also need to provide the readers? Do we risk funds on one format when a different format might take over?

We are living in a new world.

Comment from Wayne John
Time February 2, 2010 at 1:35 am

Was just entertaining a passing thought about this: At some point, books will become an endangered species if this digital thing takes over and becomes the primary output for publishing. Over time people will forget books and then one day, they’ll be gone. Except for the collectors.

Library? What’s that?

Scary thought, and I’m quite sure that we won’t see that in our lifetimes. But could we be setting ourselves on that path right now?

Perhaps I’m just too addicted to Lost.

Comment from Aaron
Time February 2, 2010 at 5:39 am

It’ll certainly be easier for the Thought Police to prosecute Thought Crimes…

Comment from geoff
Time February 2, 2010 at 11:32 am

Aaron: or iThought Crimes…?
Wonder how Ray Bradbury would rewrite Fahrenheit 451…

Comment from Amilam
Time February 2, 2010 at 2:15 pm

There’s no evidence that people will ever in mass decide to go for electronic texts. None of my little cousins have ever read a book in electronic form. No one in the college I went to read more than a fraction of their material in electronic form. E-books will have a purpose and a niche, but they will no more replace paper books than audio books did.

Comment from Amy Miller
Time February 2, 2010 at 3:17 pm

Weirdly enough, the use of PADDs to read almost exclusively and the idea that books are antiques that are nice to collect was shown back in the 1960s on television. It’s interesting watching it come to pass. Now if only someone can work out the specifics on warp drive.

The combination of E-readers in the hand and E-books available for computers as well as the mobile devices will eventually make this happen, but not until they’re a lot cheaper.

Comment from Amilam
Time February 2, 2010 at 3:39 pm

I disagree, I don’t think people find the medium enjoyable for prolonged reading. Price is irrelevant since many classics can already be legally downloaded for free. A sizable number of Americans own either an E-reader or a mobile device caplable of displaying e-texts. Yet people still opt to buy the classics. Also, there isn’t a large demand for pirated books ala music or movies. Until the E-reader evolves how they display print (perhaps something akin to 3D) books are around to stay.