Weekends bring some good TV on C-Span2's "Book TV." Yesterday Tom Brokaw sat in for a question and answer session with call-in listeners. One of the them asked him to respond with his feelings about e-readers compared to hard copy. I thought, "Right on, Tom," when he said there are times he wants to go back to lift a book off his shelf and look something up, re-read something he remembers from reading before, or just browse through the pages.
The e-reader's not well suited for that kind of reading. At least, it isn't to my estimation. I possess a Nook Book, given by Santa Claus a couple of Christmases ago. It saw some use when I first received it, but now it collects dust. I like collecting and reading from my library of hard copies that reflects my tastes and interests. I like the heft of them, their smell, physically turning the pages, writing notes in the margins, the joy of finding another to add to my collection.
I know this is a generational thing and a strong current of support is building for the e-readers in the schools. Tremendous gains are being shown by students using this technology, and people of my age are the dinosaurs. Still, can the accumulated knowledge of the ages be secure in digitized form? We hear of information becoming corrupted or lost from hard drive failure, virus infection, power surges, stupid mistakes, etc. Thank you, but my allegiance will remain with the printed word. All I need do is grab and haul my books out of the house in case of fire or anchor them down if a tornado wants to suck them through a hole it made in the roof.
Now, I'm about ready to click the publish button on the blogger program that I am manipulating on this little laptop computer. (Speaking out of two sides of my mouth? Maybe.)
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Now, I'm about ready to click the publish button on the blogger program that I am manipulating on this little laptop computer. (Speaking out of two sides of my mouth? Maybe.)
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