With the invention of the computer technology has advanced exponentially. Many mundane tasks that took hours are now quickly and effortlessly done with the aid of computers. But can technology be too overbearing sometimes? In this case with the slow eradication of bound books.

Books have been in production since long before your grandparents grandparents crawled. Technology has come a long ways from monks copying books by hand one page at a time while in their robes. With the invention of the printing press books were able to be mass produced and reached the hands of the less educated. What a great way to give literature to those who might not have been able to get ahold of it. Since the digital age the invention of Electronic books and audio books made not only producing books easier, but also easier for the reader. You don’t have to read, focusing your attention on just the book, when you have an audio book. You can simply put in a CD while on your way to work and sipping on your grande latte from that shop on the street corner. Or with the Kindle you can hold a small library right in the palm of your hands, versus the back breaking bound book. To me I would still rather have a good ol’ book.

Don’t get me wrong, I think that audio books and e-books both have their place, but for me they will never replace the course texture or the old paper smell of a bound book. I would consider myself to be environmentally conscious, but I still need my paper when it comes to books. Maybe I’m just getting old and stubborn, but a compters screen just doesn’t have a soul like a dog-eared paperback has that can be gotten at my favorite used book store. The gradual browning of the paper, the musty odor, or the annotated side notes of a scrawling pencil are what gives bound books character and helps brings the words to life. The tangible imperfections.

I fear that digitalized text will replace the concrete novel slid in a back pocket on a subway or a collection of poems in the fall. Will I cling to my bound books like a record collector clings to his vinyl? Or will I become digitalized in our ever changing society? Would a modern Bradbury no longer ask at what temperature books book, but rather a what speed are e-books deleted? For in the era of the Kindle, books are just kindling.