E versus paper books

Electronic books are pushing the traditional paper books hard. Amazon.com recently announced it sells more E books than paper versions. It's interesting, but then, one would expect higher sales of E books via an electronic seller since the target purchaser is already electronically oriented. Sales of E books overall in comparison to regular paper books is still a small portion of the market. But I wonder how large a segment of the book market the electronic book will become.

I doubt E reading will ever entirely replace traditional paper book reading. It's as unlikely to happen as was the replacement of paintings by the camera image when photography was invented and became the rage. I think E reading may in fact expand the book market a little, given it makes reading convenient in this convenience oriented world. But paper books will always be a large segment of the market, because part of humanity will not like reading via an electronic devices.

Basically, one who reads with an E reader gets a quicker and more sterile experience in reading. But the paper book reader is more apt to want the physical object that is the paper book, feeling that it is part of the reading experience to have a book in hand. The fact that so many people keep collections of books that they have finished reading long ago read shows that a physical bond with a book is important to many of us. Too, a new technology tends to accompany an old one, not replace it. TV did not kill radio, and though color TV did kill black and white TV the superiority of the former over the latter is a far different thing than E versus paper book reading.

Of course children, who are not as bonded to reading paper books as adults, will be the market segment to embrace E readers fastest. But then, within that group there will always be those who want the physical book in preference as opposed to the electronic one. I think the main reason is that reading a paper book is a far different method of reading than is reading electronically. If you think about how you read a newspaper on line and how you read it off, it will illustrate this point.

When we read a paper book we tend to read it in entirety, but when we read on line we tend to dabble, skim, select portions to read. I think our bond to the written material is deeper when we have the book in paper form. In particular, our culture now is transitory, a throw away one. E books reflect that changing reality. It might not be an exaggeration to contend, but I will, that in this time we need more traditional ways of transferring thoughts and ideas, not more electronic modes that are faster, convenient and easier to use.