There are so many disturbing things about this interview of Nicholas Negroponte by CNN’s Howard Kurtz. Negroponte is the founder of One Laptop per Child and Chairman Emeritus of MIT’s Media Lab. In the interview he asserts that physical books will be gone in five years because they cannot be distributed to enough people. He uses his One Laptop program as an example saying that by sending 100 laptops to a village in Africa and putting 100 different books on each laptop, that village that had no books before now has 10,000 books. How sending ebooks on laptops to Africa equates to the demise of the physical book in 5 years he doesn’t say.
What he does say though is that developing countries are going to be the drivers in ebook adoption in a manner similar to the way cell phones were adopted. While this may be the case, and I think it is an interesting one, he makes it seem like developing countries will somehow be better off for using ebooks because they are ebooks than the parts of the world that are still clinging to their physical books.
The interview veers toward reading newspapers online and Negroponte’s idea of “the daily me,” which amounts to some sort of aggregator software that looks for news items you might be interested in based on a profile you create. Kurtz presses Negroponte, asking him if having news tailored to your interests doesn’t threaten to narrow your thinking and keep you from being confronted by ideas and opinions that may differ from your own. Negroponte replies that yes it could, but if you want to see contrary opinions you can change your settings to feed you that sort of news. Can you say, missed the point? How many people do you know who voluntarily seek out news and opinions different from their own?
At the end of the interview Kurtz comments about people wanting to go on vacation and being unplugged for a week, leaving their digital books and news behind and taking the physical books and papers instead. Negroponte, as you would expect, pooh-poohed the need to unplug. He suggests it would be better to take two weeks off and spend a few hours online everyday than it would be to take a week off and be completely unplugged. Kurtz asked if Negroponte ever unplugged for even a day. He was aghast at the notion, no, never he said, and then implied that he could not think of a reason why he would want to ever be unplugged.
Aside from making me grumpy, this interview also made me sad. I don’t believe physical books will be gone in five years or ten years for that matter, but that there are people who believe this to be the case and who have no feeling for what will be lost should physical books disappear, well that is a tragedy. That they do media interviews and imply that people who resist changing over to all ebooks are somehow lesser, well that makes me mad.
So keep stockpiling those physical books! Feel no guilt about your sagging bookshelves or teetering piles and all the unreads! Should the physical book really disappear in five years or ten or twenty, we shall still have plenty to read on our unplugged vacations.
Oh, thank you for the permission to stockpile books! I’d probably do it anyway, but having permission is nice
I find technology cheerleader types very irritating, especially when they can’t conceive of why people might disagree with them. But most likely this guy will be wrong. Still, I’m planning on stockpiling …
Ugh, what a terrible opinion! I have no fear that physical books will be “gone” in any way in 5, 10, or pretty much at all. Maybe e-books will become another option, but really until they make a waterproof e-reader, there’s still a market for paperbacks for us bathtub readers!
Sigh. These technological evangelists make me want to unplug and hole up with my books so I don’t have to hear their annoying opinions! (Wait, did I just miss one of your points?) I comfort myself in the notion that even if the print book is gone in five years (unlikely!) or in my lifetime, there are still so many print books out there, that it will be a while before I get them all read. And if we print lovers just swap our books amongst ourselves, we’ll never run out of things to read on paper!
One needs to consider what the situation is in many developing countries. The climate and insects are often an enemy to the traditional book: the ebook may be a seriously valuable solution. For convenience (and for the sight-impaired – like me) the ebook is very valuable. BUT until all printed material and much that has never been printed becomes available in digital form, the traditional book will survive. Some books in digital form are so garbled as to be useless. Even Project Gutenberg, which has comparatively clean texts, has misprints and typos aplenty. What we need, therefore, is everything in digital format and in critical editions.
I just published my novel as an e-bok on B&N’s PubIt. I did this for the exposure because the publishing industry has become so bureaucratic. Big publishers worth submitting to don’t take manuscripts unless they are submitted by agents. Agents don’t take unsolicited manuscripts so how is an new author supposed to get their work out into public view?
I do believe there are advantages to e-books such as that they are available on the web. However, I was a reader before I was a writer and then a book collector. I love books. I love the feel of them, the smell of them and holding something in my hand that makes words paint pictures in my heart, soul and psyche.
There is also scientific proof that all humans learn differently. Some people need to learn by listening, some by sight and some by touch. One thing that I have learned form my youngest child’s teacher is that she is a tactile learner. There is something to be said about hold an object and learning from it, turning the pages, and finally a sense of accomplishment and completion.
Also, as a reader, the experience that you get form walking into a bookstore and viewing the choices and handling the text personally cannot be replaced by digital format. I could spend 5 hours in B&N and never want to leave. You get a good look inside the book, not just a summary, or synopsis and you get to sample it without purchase. I personally like a certain format, font, and layout in a book and will not purchase a volume if it is not compatible with my though process.
So in short, I DO NOT believe that the written word in physical format is going anywhere soon!
by the way sorry about a few typo’s!!!
Ridiculous man. But you make an excellent point about stockpiling. I will now consider it my civic duty to buy and keep as many books as I can without creating a fire hazard. Thank you!
There are too many booklovers in the world for that to happen.
NO WAY! I have a Kindle (and my daughter gave me a Nook, too), but there is no comparison to the experience of reading a real book and turning the pages, and seeing in on the shelf, and pulling it down and replacing it, or seeing my books piled in every corner of the house.
Fiction is fine as an ebook, but nonfiction and children’s books must be in paper form. Right now, as my granddaughter sleeps (weekly visit) there are books on the bed, the floor, the shelves, the nightstand, and the floor. Just “her” books in “her” room. The rest of the house has my books scattered in every room.
They do like to trot out the extremists on the cable news channels and give these guys an audience. It just isn’t an either-or proposition.
But I have been stockpiling books for so long I really need to put myself in timeout for awhile. I’m thinking hard about a four-month buying ban. Yeah, I have been stockpiling furiously ever since I started thinking that.
Dorothy, oh you’re welcome! It’s not like we need an excuse to stockpile but it helps
The tech cheerleaders irritate me too but I can’t manage to ignore them, kinda like a mosquito bite I just can’t stop scratching.
Daphne, paper books don’t do well if dropped in the tub but at least you can dry them out and still read them even if they are all wrinkly. ebooks aren’t so forgiving!
Teresa, LOL! You know I was thinking along similar lines as you. If physical books do go away in my lifetime I thought I know plenty of people who would be interested in setting up a book exchange!
Bob, oh yes, I think ebooks might be a boon for developing countries and I do hope 10,000 books on 100 laptops in a village turns out to be a great thing. My gripe is with the implication that ebooks are all around superior when no consideration is taken for context. I think you are onto something regarding critical digital editions. I love Project Gutenberg and get books for my Kindle from them all the time but yes, there are typos rather too frequently. And Even Google’s book scanning has errors with missing pages and human fingers intruding into the scans.
bookgirl, no worries about typos!
I think ebooks are great. I read ebooks. And I think they provide a lot of opportunities for reader and writers. But I believe that one doesn’t need to triumph over the other, that both can live side-by-side. I find there to be something a bit frightening in the psyches of people who trumpet the death of physical books on the altar of technology. If their mon-vision prevails we will be poorer for it. Good luck with your book!
Sylvia, right, we don’t want to create a fire hazard. I’m thinking we take a page from the militia operation manual and start creating book bunkers. And we shouldn’t forget to include a variety of reading glasses in the the bunkers just in case.
Em, agreed!
Jenclair, I have a Kindle too but I would never dream of replacing all of my books with digital versions nor would I dream of not ever buying a paper book again. I agree that kids need paper books, they need to colorful pictures and the big pages and the whole tactile experience.
Susan, LOL, wasn’t there a stockpiling ban earlier in the year? I always say I’m going to not buy any books until I’ve read through a pile or for X months too but somehow books just manage to find their way into the house. I think we should just accept the inevitable and start giving away the furniture to make more room for books. Except be sure to keep the comfy reading chair!
LOL! Book bunkers indeed, with reading glasses, comfy chairs and/or chaises longues, good reading lamps, tea, and cats.
Of course, we must have our comforts!
I have to admit I have a hard time being completely unplugged — not from the internet, I could go days with out logging on to the Web. But I have things like my recipe book on my computer. I have my daily schedules on my phone, etc. I like to be organized and that is how my organization is.
That said, I must use paper for a number of things, like shopping lists. And I love physical books, even when I CAN get it digitally. I love looking at my pretty bookshelves.
Mad and sad is right! How awful. I, too, am even more committed to stockpiling.
And I’m thinking for every Kindle read I pay for I should buy at least two or three physical books. Put my money where my heart is.
Vinyl records are still around and wasn’t their demise also foretold? I honestly can’t see paper books disappearing–certainly not in my lifetime. I think there are far too many people who prefer them–even people who love their kindles. It’s great if they can get kids in villages in Africa laptops, but why are these things always at the cost of getting rid of books entirely. It certainly makes a good sound byte, though, doesn’t it.
I’m wondering if laptops can survive the annual monsoon season that lots of places have. I used to help to send books out to Africa and India and because books disintegrate quickly in hot, damp weather you have to do it all again the next year.
I can’t imagine a world where no real books are published, too many people love them.
I’m all for spending time on the computer and whatnot but seriously you can’t be “unplugged” for even a day? This guy needs a hobby!
I also don’t think books will disappear in five years but just in case I think it’s time for a trip to HPB to stock up and keep those bookshelves bursting!
Yup, stockpiling like mad over here. The Priya Basil novel I read earlier in the year was not very happy with the rise of technological goods in under-developed nations. Cell phones, like guns, become emblems of a family’s prosperity and are guarded and fought over and cause much tension and black marketeering. And this in places where there are often not enough vaccines to go round. I get very edgy when big business fixes its beady eyes on poor countries.
Rebecca, I hear you. I have loads of stuff saved and organized on my computer too so going for a long time without turning on my computer is a little difficult. And since I’m on my computer I might as well check my email and the news and…
Inkslinger, while I love my Kindle, I don’t buy books for it. Only free public domain books go in it so my paper book stockpile grows and grows!
Danielle, it does make a good sound bite and get all of us readers riled up. I feel like I am so easily goaded in this respect. And I agree, I don’t see how laptops and ebooks in Africa means the end of paper books.
Katrina, that’s a good question I had not considered. Electronics don’t like hot and damp anymore than books do.
Iliana, LOL, yeah the guy needs a hobby that doesn’t involve a computer. In the mean time, I’ll “see” you are HPB!
Litlove, very important to have stockpiles on a global scale. We don’t want all our proverbial eggs in one basket! That’s an interesting point you make. I hope something like that doesn’t happen with reading devices and ebooks.
to this day I still have not read a book on a kindle or similar advice – more because they hold little interest for me than for any other reason. I cannot imagine a world without actual books…without their physicality, their beauty, their weight…good lord, what would little kids read? Your post has encouraged me to continue my book-buying habit full steam ahead!
I will recourse to Jorge Louis Borges quote:
I believe that books will never disappear. It is impossible that that will happen. Among the many inventions of man, the book, without a doubt, is the most astounding: all the others are extensions of our bodies. The telephone for example, is the extension of our voice; the telescope and the microscope are extensions of our sight: the swords and the plough are extensions of our arms. Only the book is an extension of our imagination and memory.
From: Alifano, Roberto. Twenty Four Conversations with Borges. Massachusetts: Lascaux Publishers, 1984.
Huzzah the rallying cry to keep buying books – never really needed, but always welcome.
I think I made my point about all the economic issues of saying ‘books will die out’ in a previous comment, but I am really interested in the 1 laptop program, especially as it seems the kids get to keep their laptops and someone above has mentioned about books not surviving very well in hotter, damper countries. I guess if books are donated they’re not always in the best shape to begin with.
I think it’s odd to say developing countries will drive e-book technology adoption. There are different social classes in developing countries, it’s just that the proportions in each and the low end of each economic level is different from those in the West. So there must be people buying books/ebooks in Africa – surely the same kind of considerations apply when they decide whether they’d prefer a book, or an e-book as they do over here (price, availability, ease of use etc) if the technology is not available to them for free. Programs like the one laptop endevour will be successful in introducing laptops into the lives of people who can’t afford paper books, or ebooks and all credit to them, but not really getting how that will translate to other people in higher economic bands paying for ereaders and ebooks. Surely you have to have people buying the technology to really say a country is adopting something, otherwise it’s just a matter of using what’s provided? And how would it affect the economies of these countries if e-technology was coming from outside suppliers, rather than being made in the country?
I’m not surprised that article made you grumpy – never unplug ever? I’m looking forward to my week away where I might check email once in the whole week. I need it to fight the crazies the internet can sometimes bring on
Courtney, could you imagine giving a toddle and iPad to read books on? So long iPad! I see ebooks as a format option. In some situations digital makes perfect sense, in others not so much. But we should always have the choice of format.
Fiona, fantastic quote!
Jodie, the on laptop progrma is a great program I think. It brings technology, literacy and education to people who desperately need it. I think it is a bit odd to say that develoing countries will drive ebook adoption too. It is not the same as a phone which does not require one to be able to read to use it. I can see, perhaps, a use in the educational arena but I somehow don’t see mass adoption by the general population. It is, as you note, a matter of economics. Books require discretionary income. I suppose people in higher income brackets could buy ebooks without buying readers if they have smartphones but I still can’t see how they will become consumers of ebooks.
I don’t buy the “books don’t last in hot countries” argument. I have pulp paperbacks that lived through several years in the tropics, including a right dunking during a hurricane, and are still perfectly readable. Consider that in the North our homes are pretty warm and humid too. Are our bathroom books disintegrating before our eyes? And how long do electronics last? It’s only a few years before they break, become obsolete, or the battery stops recharging.
I think there is a hint of the future in Japan, where people read and even write books on their phones. And with the level of media piracy in developing countries, well, I wouldn’t be counting on big business there if I were an ebook publisher!!
I meant to say, those books are still perfectly readable *40 years later*…
I like ebooks…but I love physical books. I’m wondering what views my children will have about books as they grow up. I converted my garage into a full blown library and have started stocking it with the best books I can find. I find it hard to believe that physical books will ‘go away’ and will teach my kids the joy of a well developed physical library…whether the next generation continues with physical books or relegates the mass of human generated information back to large organizations in the ‘cloud’ would be a sad day. We worked so hard in history to disseminate information…now society seems content with giving the power back to ‘the man’.