Post #2: What is a book?

 

A book is an idea. And it isn't only one idea, but it's a collection of them. They are the ideas and thoughts of the book's author that slowly transcend to the reader’s mind, where they are then expanded upon. A book embodies not only the message trying to be conveyed by the author, but also the reader's interpretation of it, and how they chose to experience it.

 

I nearly find myself agreeing with Tom Piazza when he states, "You get no sense of the feel of things, of the nature of the artist's ambition..." and feel that he has captured something of great importance. However, I do not honestly view myself as an “anti-technology/device” person (I use a Kindle myself). I also think that to some degree Joe Meno is correct in his statement that “…the idea of the book is more important than the actual form it takes…”  I feel like you shouldn’t completely ignore the benefits of having an entire bookshelf at your fingertips. It is a stubborn and unwilling attitude that will likely be viewed upon by today’s society as “old-fashioned”. Yet I also feel like you should never forego the experience of holding that 734 page hardback of Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire.  

 
     I think that it will be a very sad day if/when the book (as in the sense of a literal BOOK) disappears. Can you honestly imagine reading to your children only from and iPad (or whatever is around by then)? I just don’t feel like it’s the same experience, especially for young children. I don’t feel like they should be robbed of the joy of turning their books’ pages by ACTUALLY turning them, and not pushing a button with an arrow.

We shouldn’t as book lovers banish the idea of e-readers and downloads; but we also as a people shouldn’t be so swept up in the whirlwind of excitement that surrounds our new technologic devices. We should try and all agree to be open to the idea that a book is just that; an idea. And one person’s idea of what a book is could be completely different than that of someone else’s. Does it really matter? Does it really have to be all or nothing?