By Steve Weddle
Something in the Sunday paper struck me. It was a baseball bat. And how it got into my pajamas, I’ll never know.
Something else, though. In an article about the fiftieth anniversary of a certain university press, the interim publishing director was speaking about those people in the book publishing business and said this:
There’s a warmth to a book that plastic computer screens don’t have….It’s the same as a furniture maker who loves making furniture. There’s a craft element to it. What image do you put on the cover? What typography does inside? What kind of paper do you use? Of course, when you look at e-books, there’s a technology aspect to it that’s every bit as much a craft. But I don’t think this is the demise of the book.Now, it is certainly possible that the reporter asked some leading question, something along the lines of “Are e-books the end of civilization?”

I don’t merely look at books. I read them, usually on my Kindle Fire, because inside of a dog it's too dark to read on my K3.
I was, in fact, looking for a book this weekend so that I could loan it out to someone. As it happens, I’d read it on my Kindle. In all seriousness, maybe I should have known whether I’d read those words on a screen or on sheets of paper. I suppose it matters to some people. It doesn’t matter to me.
And speaking, as I almost was earlier, of Eric Blair’s famous Vaudeville show, “Shooting An Elephant in My Pajamas,” I made my way down my driveway Sunday morning for the paper that had the story about the university press inside.
I could have just downloaded the newspaper to my Kindle, as it is available in the newsstand. I didn’t, though. Of course, it would have been less expensive had I downloaded it. And I would have gotten it sooner. And I wouldn’t have had to walk outside in my admittedly lovely black-watch pj bottoms and “All your base are belong to us” t-shirt. But, and here’s the important thing, had I downloaded that newspaper and read the story about the publishing world, I would not have been able to enjoy the crafted typography of the print version.
2 comments:
I enjoyed your analysis and think it's pretty accurate. When I made my eBook, I was darn sure to research all the elements of craft I can so that it could appear as a legitimate form.
Plus, I like the LOTR reference. My inner (outer/entirely pervasive) nerd particularly jumped at that.
E-books will get more sophisticated. Print books will never leave us. Long live books.
Post a Comment