What I think I find most surprising are the number of folks in the community who either never had that moment, or for whom it's been so long that they've forgotten what it's like, or vaguely remember and aren't all that worried about it. Thing is, publishing on the internet as "I am one of you" is transient, illusory, and you do kinda hafta be on the damn computer to read it. A book is something tangible, something you can hold in your hands, and most importantly, something you can clutch to your chest when you feel like the world's doing its damnedest to take you down. Its very tangibility is what makes it so powerful when you know there's a Real Person attached to it.
People talk about how ebooks will destroy publishing, or how paper isn't all traditionalists say it's cracked up to be, and I'm all for ebooks myself, in many ways. But in some ways -- especially when there's an added undercurrent, this need to make one's self and one's view of the world a tangible thing -- in that instance, there is simply nothing that can do that like a physical book.
But then, for those that don't get it, seems to me that if they don't get it by now, they never will, though it is rather sad if they're writing books and don't get it. Hopefully, though, the people out selling books do get it, and I suspect they do, because that's one of the biggest things that makes an otherwise underpaid and overworked book-selling job so damn rewarding.
Err, whoops. Former bookseller. Almost got carried away again. What, me passionate about books? Eheh. Just a little.
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Date: 1 Oct 2009 02:43 pm (UTC)People talk about how ebooks will destroy publishing, or how paper isn't all traditionalists say it's cracked up to be, and I'm all for ebooks myself, in many ways. But in some ways -- especially when there's an added undercurrent, this need to make one's self and one's view of the world a tangible thing -- in that instance, there is simply nothing that can do that like a physical book.
But then, for those that don't get it, seems to me that if they don't get it by now, they never will, though it is rather sad if they're writing books and don't get it. Hopefully, though, the people out selling books do get it, and I suspect they do, because that's one of the biggest things that makes an otherwise underpaid and overworked book-selling job so damn rewarding.
Err, whoops. Former bookseller. Almost got carried away again. What, me passionate about books? Eheh. Just a little.