Reading With the Machine
It is an interesting debate. Especially when it is with a librarian who is passionate about books, the conventional paper-based type. I’ve listened to (and read about, on a machine) the arguments for paper-based books, the cognitive advantages, the feel, the humanity of it. I think this is a case of hanging onto a long tradition and it repeats itself over and over through history. Even when the Gutenberg press was invented, the religious leaders of the day tried to paint it as a tool of the devil. I suspect that was to protect the vocation of the tireless monks copying texts and to protect the political leaders power and control over the spread of knowledge. Or, how about when the oral tradition was shifting to a written one, albeit using stone tablets. There were fears that peoples ability to remember would be lost. With any change in tools, there is a sense of loss and a sense of wonder and gain. Reading is one of those practices t...