Nick Hornby: "I'll never be caught reading an ebook"

[delphidb96]

I've posted my (short) analysis of why he's all of the above at my blog. Feel free to post comments.

http://delphidb96.blogspot.com/

Derek

[griffonwing]

I read the title, and I thought to myself.. "Why would anyone care about what a singer thought about ebooks".

It was then I realized that you weren't talking about Bruce Hornsby. DOH

[RickyMaveety]

Originally Posted by griffonwing

I read the title, and I thought to myself.. "Why would anyone care about what a singer thought about ebooks".

It was then I realized that you weren't talking about Bruce Hornsby. DOH

[acidzebra]

I think he makes some valid points, from his perspective. However, his perspective is not mine, nor is it (I suspect) shared with many of the people on this forum (although I also suspect that we're an extreme niche market :P). And I don't see the need for the inflammatory post title, but whatever. The actual article isn't that bad.

Book lovers are always late adaptors, and generally suspicious of new technology

That is the only part I really object to. I'm a book lover and a gadget hound.

[bwaldron]

Originally Posted by acidzebra

That is the only part I really object to. I'm a book lover and a gadget hound.

As are a majority of us here, I'd imagine. I don't see any reason to suppose that lovers of books are any more or less "technophobic" than any other group.

[Sparrow]

Originally Posted by bwaldron

I don't see any reason to suppose that lovers of books are any more or less "technophobic" than any other group.

But 'book lovers', in the sense of people who love books as objects, will surely take more convincing of the merits of technological replacements than non-book lovers, won't they?

[bwaldron]

Originally Posted by Sparrow

But 'book lovers', in the sense of people who love books as objects, will surely take more convincing of the merits of technological replacements than non-book lovers, won't they?

Maybe the fetishists

But most book lovers love to read, I presume (hope?). And for those who love to read, ebooks vs. pbooks is not an either/or choice. The new technology offers new options and convenience, while traditional books have their own charms (and are still the best choice for some types of content).

Maybe all of us here are just odd?

[Alisa]

I do notice that there is a large number of SciFi readers here. I tend to assume that us geeky types are more attracted to tech. I wouldn't be surprised if we're just more open to reading on a device than the general reading public. Still, I think the rest of them will come around when the devices are more common. Once screens are better and cheaper and things like textbooks and periodicals are more readily available in electronic form than not, we'll have more people used to reading on a device rather than paper. Until that point, geeks aren't a bad market to go after. I don't know what percentage of the reading market reads SciFi but IME they buy a lot more books per person. NYT Best Sellers certainly have wide appeal but most of the folks I know that read a book per week or more are "genre fiction" readers: SciFi, Fantasy, Romance. Until reading devices are super cheap or the screens on multifunction devices are better for reading, ebooks are mostly going to appeal to people who buy A LOT of books.

[axel77]

Now this topics are revived, I recently came upon a line in a book that talked about hypertexts in academic context. One major problem they are presumed to have is the symbolic status of the book.

The book is *the* symbol for scholarliness.

And I consider Hornby is freightened eBooks might destroy that symbol. And this is even justifiably so. The eBook has potential to destroy the book as symbol for scholarliness. I consider however Hornby mismatches it with the destroyed symbol also scholarliness as concept will be destroyed also, and I think this is wrong.

However yes, it will be far more difficult if you superficially watch a man at his (home)office to determine if s/he does any "inteligent" work or just reads facebook junk all the determine. Currently you can go into his homeoffice you see walls of books, and you think, wow that wo/man must be smart (or at least well educated, I think one can fairly distinguish this traits). In the "new age" of eBooks, you will just see a cosy room, and some device lying on a table. You cannot say if s/he uses it to read about Hegel and Aristoteles or if s/he plays tetris with it all the time. There are less clues, less symbols, you'd really need to talk with him/her.

Also due to this one device does it all, at least with the notebook I catch myself quickly doing distractive things, like posting on mobileread, instead of working what I wanted to do.

[delphidb96]

Originally Posted by axel77

Now this topics are revived, I recently came upon a line in a book that talked about hypertexts in academic context. One major problem they are presumed to have is the symbolic status of the book.

The book is *the* symbol for scholarliness.

And I consider Hornby is freightened eBooks might destroy that symbol. And this is even justifiably so. The eBook has potential to destroy the book as symbol for scholarliness. I consider however Hornby mismatches it with the destroyed symbol also scholarliness as concept will be destroyed also, and I think this is wrong.

However yes, it will be far more difficult if you superficially watch a man at his (home)office to determine if s/he does any "inteligent" work or just reads facebook junk all the determine. Currently you can go into his homeoffice you see walls of books, and you think, wow that wo/man must be smart (or at least well educated, I think one can fairly distinguish this traits). In the "new age" of eBooks, you will just see a cosy room, and some device lying on a table. You cannot say if s/he uses it to read about Hegel and Aristoteles or if s/he plays tetris with it all the time. There are less clues, less symbols, you'd really need to talk with him/her.

Also due to this one device does it all, at least with the notebook I catch myself quickly doing distractive things, like posting on mobileread, instead of working what I wanted to do.

You may well have hit it right on the head. How is a person supposed to "judge" the "character" of another if one cannot quickly glance at the titles (or lack thereof) lining that person's bookcase? Yep. I get the feeling that Nick Hornby is that shallow of a person.

Derek

[bwaldron]

Originally Posted by delphidb96

I get the feeling that Nick Hornby is that shallow of a person.

Certainly some of his characters would be -- the record-shop guys in High Fidelity would assess people's "character" based upon their music collections.

[Donnageddon]

I'll never be caught reading Nick Hornby.

[Steven Lyle Jordan]

Originally Posted by delphidb96

You may well have hit it right on the head. How is a person supposed to "judge" the "character" of another if one cannot quickly glance at the titles (or lack thereof) lining that person's bookcase? Yep. I get the feeling that Nick Hornby is that shallow of a person.

Don't forget: There are plenty of people out there who will buy a book, piece of music, art, etc, because of its status (and what it supposedly confers to those who own it), as opposed to their interest in it. It's one of the things that bolsters bestseller lists, in fact.

The times, they are a'changin'. Where a wall of books formerly sufficed, now a laptop does the job... and as more students are adopting laptops to daily educational use, it's only a matter of time before the book is replaced by the laptop, or possibly something like an education-centric multifunction device, as the "symbol of scholarliness."

[MaggieScratch]

Oh, Nick...never is an awfully long time.

[RickyMaveety]

Originally Posted by bwaldron

Certainly some of his characters would be -- the record-shop guys in High Fidelity would assess people's "character" based upon their music collections.

Ohhhh. I saw that movie. Now I know who wrote the book. That's why he's able to write such convincingly shallow characters!! Well, this explains it all!!