Dematerializing books
You may find me extreme (then again, if you know me, you already know that), but I got rid of all my books back in 2012. Along with all my CD’s, as it happens. The reason for this was that I was moving into the first ever flat I owned (which I just recently sold: so goes the circle of life). Getting rid of CD’s in 2012 was not exactly revolutionary: many had already done it, or were thinking about doing it. But books are another story.
This summer, we went to check out a good friend’s new place in the suburbs: she’d moved in during lockdown, so she’d had time to also have a kid since we last saw each other (you may have had the same experience: turns out people didn’t stop living because you stop seeing them…). As she is a (published) writer, it will be a surprise to no one that she loves books. And owns books. Entire shelves of books: in fact, she readilty admitted that the reason she had to move outside of central Paris to said new place was to get a living room big enough to house the hundreds/thousands of books she owns. Well, herself and her boyfriend, who also happens to be a published author…
While I have absolutely nothing against such choices (except perhaps on the sustainability front: is it better to cut trees than own digital books? I don’t actually know the answer to that), the reason I don’t own physical books anymore is that I believe that technology can provide a much greater experience. Operative word being ‘can’ here, rather than ‘does’: to date, all the e-book readers I have used and seen leave a lot to be desired. Either they are not user friendly or they lack interesting features that would make a digital book something greater than a physical book — or both.
That is, in my opinion, the core reason why people still buy books, beside nostalgia. They did stop buying CD’s — except in Japan. When someone finally comes up with a product that truly provides an experience greater than that of a physical book, people will (finally) jump ship. The technology is here: adding interactive features, the possibility to easily store and access comments on any digital file, the very fact that you can browse through notes by a single click… all that (and hopefully much more) is available to us already. What is potentially missing for the Amazons and Apples of this world to really address this is the financial gain to be made: there will be some R&D required here, and the potential market for books in the 21st century may be somewhat lesser than in previous eras, given how much audio and video content are taking over…
No matter: a good idea is still good, even if it doesn’t revolutionize everything. On your marks, get set…