As a child I was taught to be very careful with books. Some children might tear pages, or scribble with crayons, not me. Never were pages dog eared. Books were almost sacred objects, treated with reverence and care.
When the Elder Offspring was in school, she had an art project to ... now I'm having problems, the only way I can describe it is 'deface a book'. It was cut, painted, moulded, scratched and abused.
Eight years later, I'm still thinking in the same words, but my reaction is 'It's just an object, and something without intrinsic value.' We're not talking about first editions, but mass market, mass produce books. They are as unique as a bottle of Coke. I'm happily giving away my paper books (dead trees), and using e-books instead. It's not the object that's important, but the ideas contained within.
The books pictured above are rather lovely to look at. They are lovely in the same way old bobbins are lovely, or other antiques are lovely. There role is not functional, but to be beautiful and convey a sense of age.
For me, e-books win hands down over paper. The typeface and size can be changed at will. The book can be read to me, or I can read it in the dark. It's so much simpler taking a library of books (a Kindle) on holiday than packing several kilos of paper.
When the Elder Offspring was in school, she had an art project to ... now I'm having problems, the only way I can describe it is 'deface a book'. It was cut, painted, moulded, scratched and abused.
Eight years later, I'm still thinking in the same words, but my reaction is 'It's just an object, and something without intrinsic value.' We're not talking about first editions, but mass market, mass produce books. They are as unique as a bottle of Coke. I'm happily giving away my paper books (dead trees), and using e-books instead. It's not the object that's important, but the ideas contained within.
The books pictured above are rather lovely to look at. They are lovely in the same way old bobbins are lovely, or other antiques are lovely. There role is not functional, but to be beautiful and convey a sense of age.
For me, e-books win hands down over paper. The typeface and size can be changed at will. The book can be read to me, or I can read it in the dark. It's so much simpler taking a library of books (a Kindle) on holiday than packing several kilos of paper.
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