As if E-Books Were Not Bad Enough....

You may have noticed that I am not a huge fan of the whole e-book "revolution". I have issues, issues with the readers and issues with the e-books themselves. In my opinion, e-books have not developed to a level that can match the experience of reading a book. Maybe they are more efficient, maybe the offer a certain convenience, if you are looking just in terms of relaying information. If a book is just a series of images of words, then maybe the e-book is a capable medium. But for me, dinosaur that I am, reading a book is about more than just the transfer of information. It is an experience and the e-book experience has some serious problems at this point.

But fear not! It seems that some publishers are ready to meet this challenge. According to an article in the NY Times,

"...in the age of the iPhone, Kindle and YouTube, the notion of the book is becoming increasingly elastic as publishers mash together text, video and Web features in a scramble to keep readers interested in an archaic form of entertainment.

On Thursday, for instance, Simon & Schuster, the publisher of Ernest Hemingway and Stephen King, is working with a multimedia partner to release four “vooks,” which intersperse videos throughout electronic text that can be read — and viewed — online or on an iPhone or iPod Touch."

Yes, it seems that what that "archaic form of entertainment", the book, needed all along...video! But wait, there is even more on the horizon. Jude Deveraux, an author of some 36 romance books, now known as "straightforward text novels", has even more suggestions for the future "book".

"Ms. Deveraux said she envisioned new versions of books enhanced by music or even perfume. “I’d like to use all the senses,” she said.
Brian Tart, publisher of Dutton, an imprint of Penguin Group USA, which released “Level 26,” said he wanted the book’s text to be able to stand on its own, but the culture demanded rethinking the format."

Personally, I like using my imagination. I don't think the "format"...formally known as books...needs "rethinking."

And maybe I am not the only one to see some problems with this vision of the future.
If people develop a taste for this enhanced medium...formally known as books...will the next generation have the patience to sit and read Henry James or George Eliot? Will centuries of classics sit unread in the future, unless someone goes back enhances those dusty, old books and let's us smell the cologne Mr Rochester wore? Oh wait, that's right, they won't be sitting anywhere because all the libraries will be going digital, like my favorite prep school.

Happily, not everyone is on board.

"Some authors scoff at the idea of mixing the two mediums. As a novelist I would never ever allow videos to substitute for prose, said Walter Mosley, the author of “Devil in a Blue Dress” and other novels.

“Reading is one of the few experiences we have outside of relationships in which our cognitive abilities grow,” Mr. Mosley said. “And our cognitive abilities actually go backwards when we’re watching television or doing stuff on computers.”

So, what do you think? Is there something, anything, unique and special about the traditional book or is this just me, yet again, fighting the inevitable?