An Inconvenient Truth: A Lack of Books

It is said that within the next twenty years, paper books will be completely replaced by technology.

This Saturday, Apple's newest creation, the iPad, came out. And, being the techie that I am, I immediately read about two dozen reviews to see how it compared to other Apple products. As almost all the more complimentary reviews read, the iPad is a real game changer in multiple ways: it can outright replace many, if not most, of the computing (internet) needs, and it seems that as the glitches are worked out, and the next generations come out, it will most likely be able to replace computers entirely.

Alongside that article was a blurb on how paper books are being replaced. Amazon's Kindle, and now the iPad have the ability to completely replace the printed book. They have ways to store books so that one only has to carry around one small device for several hundred books. As much as I like the idea of being able to carry around all the books I want to read at once, eventually as everyone begins to own one of these devices, it is so difficult to comprehend that within a generation or two they could stop being used.

I think that having an iPad or Kindle (especially since they have expanding functions, like internet) would be extremely convenient for the user, but I hesitate to get one of these devices no matter how useful they may be. Like any device, a book reader can crash. And reading on a screen is just different than reading an actual book.

Although it will take time to accept, it seems that the reign of books that have been used for centuries is soon to be over. I think that the only way to really get used to the fact that books are being replaced by internet-based technology is to keep the ones I have in good condition, and continue to buy paper books in lieu of using an iPad or Kindle for reading books online.