While it is intriguing and "oh, so politically correct" to strive for a paperless society, a textbook free universe, a population that has shed itself of any possession that might weight one down, I propose that this "K" thing is just another thing, another gadget for consumers and
really, in my own office and everyone else's office we have all proven that we can't go paperless because we don't want to! We want our lists, our printouts, our contact with information the way we want it and are most comfortable with. So the most intriguing aspect of "K" or "That Electronic Thing that Amazon has Forced on the Book Loving World", doesn't really hold up, it too will fill our landfills, it too will always become dated as it already has with a newer bigger version.
So there, I've drawn my own personal line in the sand. Before anyone begins with a counter argument please note that I've done a little of my own self examination on this subject. I wonder if perhaps my protestations sound a bit like those stubborn writers who when introduced to the typewriter declared it as an interruption to the creative process, another hurdle interrupting the flow of words and crafting of story. Are we merely old codgers
embracing the past? Are we book trade skeptics just fearful of becoming obsolete parts of a dying industry?
I think it is enough and important to make an argument for the book, as I love the tactile feeling of the page, I yearn to read something that doesn't glow with that unnatural light. I want to connect with the universal experience that sitting quietly, head bent over page gives me. As I turn a page, I can connect with the past knowing not much has changed over this one
human experience. It is enough and okay to be fearful and despise "That Electronic Thing that Amazon has Forced on the Book Loving World".
I rebel at yet another commercial entry into our fraying language. In this world of Post-its, Nike's, Coke's will Book be replaced by "That Electronic Thing That Amazon has Forced on the Book Loving World?"
It wasn't that long ago that I had my first run-in with a T.E.T.T.A.H.F.O.T.B.L.W. owner. With sarcasm he quipped "Aren't you worried this will put you and everyone else out of business?". Well yes, frankly I was and still am. I take little comfort that this same person worked in the stock market and quickly corrected anyone discussing what was feeling at that time like an impending recession in our economy "this is a decline
not a recession". Whether it is a depression, a
recession or a decline it has been sustained bad news for this industry. Today
Simon and Schuster reported losses this first quarter of 2.1 million. So I hope my stockbroker friend was wrong about "That Electronic Thing That Amazon has Forced on the Book Loving World". The greater point is do we discard our great industries? Do we take glee in any American industry's decline or fall in a competitive marketplace? Do we really want to lose the publishing diversity that our shrinking population of independent publishers offer us and every aspiring writer out there? Do we care about the survival of the bookstore, the printer, the bookseller and "the book"?
My line in the sand stands redrawn. In writing this I realize this gadget is a symptom of a
a greater problem and I will rectify my own tiny corner of the world with a vote of my purchasing dollar. If I choose to buy a book, I will choose to buy it from someone that loves books as I do. Amazon is a big dog corporation now which revels in it's size, does the alpha dog thingee with everyone in the industry and shows no conscience. They've spawned what could be the virtual dagger, slaying an industry that their own fortunes were built on.