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Tony Miksak's
Words on Books
as broadcast weekly on KZYX radio

Grandma Roseby in Pembrokeshire

News from all over the place...
One hundred and five year-old Clara Roseby reads six books a week. She lives in Pembrokeshire, Wales. She likes a good, old-fashioned story, but nothing American, and no swearing, please, we're British.
Her daughter picks out books for her from the newly refurbished library in Fishguard, twelve miles to the north, on the shores of the Irish sea.
The librarians figure Grandma Roseby has borrowed more than 10,000 books in the past 35 years. And as one local politician likes to point out, it's all free.
Go Clara! If only we had free libraries in America. Wait a minnit... we do! And when's the last time you visited your local library?
On another but related subject, news reports say "Competition is growing in the eBook reader market." Amazon's Kindle, Sony's Ereader, and others, want you to download books to read on their machines.
Everyone in the biz is talking about this latest assault on the tradition of ink, paper and glue books sold in brick and mortar, or board and nail palaces called independent bookstores. Big Box outfits and tax-free Internet sales sites have dinged the independents, but many persevere quite happily. Will E books be a final blow?
I'm thinking no. For several basic reasons, electronic books will likely remain a subsidiary market to traditional paper books. Consider the basic essence of a book compared to an electronic device.
Since the first days of moveable type no one has owned "the book." By contrast, electronic readers belong to particular corporations. They have proprietary formats. They are not compatible with competitors, unless they strike a deal.
The content of e book readers also is proprietary. Even if the book is free, or out of copyright, you are merely licensed to read it. In the end and in the fine print, you do not own what you download.
Amazon has the ability to electronically reach into your machine and simply delete a book, even one you thought you had purchased outright. Amazon recently did just this with copies of George Orwell's novel 1984 without asking anyone. Overnight the book disappeared from Kindles everywhere. Something to do with legal rights to a particular edition.
Reconsider the printed book. It's not just monks in cloisters anymore. Anyone and everyone can produce, distribute, sell and read books. No limit to how many you can own. No one sneaks into your study and takes back a book you bought.
With a Kindle in your pocket you will never know for sure when information is being collected about you and your reading habits. What's to keep Amazon or Sony from inserting live adverts into your book? Internet links to products mentioned in a story? What's to stop them?
If you buy a book and take it to a grassy bank above a quiet stream to read Shelley or Keats, or Eat, Pray, Love or whatever, it's your quiet stream and your quiet book, good for several lifetimes, pretty much forever. Your book does not need to be upgraded. It will not become obsolete, require a software update or need to be recharged.
Your own personal, private, permanent ownership of what you read, and the printed book's infinite portability and infinite lifetime is why books have endured. They will continue to be easier to use and more dependable than reading machines.
I'm pretty sure Grandma Roseby in Pembrokeshire would agree with me.

Aired Sunday August 16, 2009 at 10:55 am and Wednesday August 19, 2009 at 1:00 pm

NOTES:

Grandma Roseby's story: http://www.newswales.co.uk/?section=Culture&F=1&id=17385
Blogger Tony Bradley on the PC World online site discussed ebook readers: http://www.pcworld.com/businesscenter/article/169675/as_ebook_readers_heat_up_standardization_will_be_critical.html
Just for fun: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Fishguard

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