What is a book?
In my mind, a book is a gift. What that gift is and how that
gift will be used, however, is up to the reader. The interpretations and the
connections that the reader makes within the book determine what exactly that
gift becomes. It could become a gift of knowledge as the words on the page spew
bits of information into the reader’s mind as they read. It could become a gift
of companionship as the characters throughout the book gradually become more
than just characters, but friends. It could become a gift of comfort as the simple
act of reading brings the reader joy, peace, and serenity. A book could become
a gift of anything: of life, of death, of happiness, of sorrow- it all depends
on the readers themselves and how they see not only the words on the page but
also the deeper meanings found within them.
As for the debate between the “e-book” and the “actual book”,
I tend to lean more towards the side of the actual book. While I agree with
Victor LaValle in that some people may tend to over exaggerate the aspects of a
book, there is some importance, be it slim or not, to the physicality a book offers.
Being able to turn the page of a book and visualize the accumulation of pages
as you near closer and closer to the end is far more satisfactory than simply
sliding your finger across a screen only to see the same sight you saw before,
the only difference being the page number in the bottom corner. There is no
gratification, no real “award” to reading an e-book. Maybe it’s just me, but in
my mind, there is no greater sense of accomplishment than physically turning
the very last page of a book. The surge of triumph and success that rushes
through your body as you realize you have read an entire book, cover to cover,
page to page- that is something that you simply cannot get from reading an
e-book.
I don’t know what is to come for the book world, whether the
apocalyptic “death” of the book is truly as near as most believe it to be. What
I do know, however, is that even if the world becomes full of Kindles and Nooks
and what not, I will always value the physical book over the e-book and the
many gifts it has to offer.
I love how you mentioned the visual accumulation of pages and compared it to the electronic pages numbers and counting that occurs with an e-reader. As a Kindle owner, one of my biggest pet peeves is that I often find myself looking at the percentage on the bottom of the screen to see how far into the book I am. I track my own progess by accident so much that it sometimes distracts me from the story. I would also add that I feel less connection to my kindle, because it is many things and stories in one, while a book is just a book.
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