"Kids won't read ebooks" -- yeah, right!

[nekokami]

A few nights ago I was reading while waiting at a restaurant for my husband and 12 year old daughter to show up (older daughter was at an evening class). They came in and my daughter noticed my eBookwise 1150 for the first time (I've only had the thing for 2 months now...) "What's that?"

"It's my ebook reader. It's like an iPod, but for books."

Her eyes grew wide. "I'm going to put that on my birthday list."

Later that night, I gave her a few copies of files for some books I've been trying to get her to read. She thinks my paperback copies smell musty and doesn't like the yellowed paper, but she spends hours reading fan fiction online. She was delighted about the idea of trying these books on the screen.

So much for the wisdom of the publishers out there....

I've got a second hand iLiad coming in the mail this week. My daughter may end up inheriting my eBw.

[yvanleterrible]

My kids aren't kids anymore but their eyes shure lit up when they saw the reader. Nephews alike.

Pity there's no affordable model yet. Again rich kids will be the only ones being able to use them.

Aaaah! We can only dream of the flexible plastic ones we see in picture once in a while.

[RWood]

I agree with you completely. If anything they are far more adept at it than we are. To them it is almost a seamless transition from audio to video to Moby Dick.

[NatCh]

A case of "if it's electronic, it has to be cool," I suppose.

[Hadrien]

The single fact that you can read books using a new technology instead of reading them on dead trees should make these devices "cool".

I'm sure kids won't write stupid essays about why books should stay on paper etc...

They just see the benefits of this tech, instead of focusing on some vague concept about the link between culture and paper.

[NatCh]

When you put it that way, Hadrein, it puts me in mind of how I saw computers in the late 80's -- all potential and no drawbacks. Which exemplifies the sort of thing that makes me think that it's important as we 'grow up' to try to keep that kind of perspective in mind -- if nothing else, it helps in dealing with those young whipper-snappers. Of course, simply don't plan to grow up, myself.

[RWood]

***** Bad Joke Warning *****
But without books how will we ever level the dining room table?
***** End of Bad Joke *****

Paper based is a relic of our past. Remember the historical tales of the fights between the scribes and the Gutenberg tools of the devil? Later the typesetter's revolts and sacking of the new linotype automatic typesetting machines. This is just anothe chapter in the technology war. Thankfully, the game is rigged and the ebooks will win. We just wish sooner rather than later.

[sic]

some books - considering their type setting, binding, cover etc. - are really works of art.
it would be nice to see ebooks getting the same kind of artistic detail. IMO it's only a matter of time...

[yvanleterrible]

Hmmm!

Yes! we work towards the future. Yes! paper books will someday be today's horse and buggy. Yes! the energy we show in our evangelism is positive. But we should not go near the fringes of extremism.

Forgive me for what I'm about to say for I have to be objective; as I'm about to play devil's advocate.

First off: The derogatory term dead trees.
How ever we are empassionned by the ebook's versatility, using a naturally replenished form of material is a good thing. It is the way trees are framed in our consumption wheel that is a shame; not the fact of using the trees. If we start thinking in that way, we have to think about all other destructing forms of nature consumption; mining, power use, food, transport and all others. Trees and vegetation are an extension of solar power, the only acceptably true free energy. In this case the part of the equation most critical is that solar power is mixed with a high carbon quantity. It is the carbon part that has gone haywire.
Trees can easily be replaced. If we did not use trees we would have no shelter, no furnishings and I skip. What are not acceptable are waste and an unreasonable use of resources. Paper should be made of the replanted growth of high yield species and of recyclables. There are species that can grow ten feet in a year but they have to be planted by unethical entities who for their short presence on earth, just want to profiteer. Not reasonable. As it is, paper comes from 'free' virgin northern forests where trees take hundreds of years to grow up to a measly six inch diameter; not even an inch a year. These regions will afterwards not be productive for at least three hundred years. The paper mills release chlorines and whatever whitening agents in the natural waterways, destroying them forever. And then again I skip.

Second: Electronics are friendlyer.
Not!
How easy it is to rely on power supply! Have we forgotten how New Orleans has to fight to get it back? Everybody knows most trouble involved in electricity generation; nuclear waste, thermal generator pollution, oil spills and whatever. All electronic devices rely completely on a source of electrical power. And how about battery storage? Lest we forget how these chemicals are produced, how rivers are killed in the process, large tracts of land cleared of trees to park huge amounts of fruitless mineral debris. And what about the residual toxicity of the materials constructing our electronic devices. And then again I skip.

I could go on and on but this is not the place for that.

What we have here is a difference of balance, a fight for the lesser evil. The balance here favors electronics but by a very thin margin. The winning argument will be the size required for the library over time and only when the balance of imbedded energy (*) will have been crossed. I expect this to be after at least 5 or 6 years of responsible use of the same device.

If we look at total differences of ecology between paper books and electronic books, I must declare the paper book the winner for now, all based on one concept. If inks are factored out of the equation by using the new organic based ones, paper books are made from a living organism.
My basis for saying so is this. If we are to be able to live responsibly, all consumables must be provided by living organisms over inert ones in a vision of balance and regeneration.

The only true free energy is the one(s) provided from the sun. It is the only energy that comes not from the planet itself but from outside its boundaries. All others are residual and associated with earthly matter or motion.

In our zeal to promote the ebook we must not bash about the paper book. We like the ebook so much that we tout it about as the only one worthy, but it is not. If all the materials composing an ebook reader were taken from a "replenishable" source, it would win hands down and only for a fact. That it is stored in the ethereal flurry of an electron dance. But then again, so could be its downfall and how easy it could be!

Let me peat and repeat… for now the paperbook is the backup…


(*) Imbedded energy: An equation to calculate the total energy required to produce, distribute, use and recycle a manufactured good. For now it's the best weight used to indicate the influence of man in the balance of ecology.

[nekokami]

Wow, quite the flood of discussion. Yvan, I do agree with you about the embedded energy costs in ebook readers, and it's something I gave a lot of thought to before I bought one. I do tend to use the same electronics for extended periods, so I decided when I factored in the embedded energy of moving the paper around, the ebook reader seemed like a good choice for me.

My daughter was quite indignant to find that most publishers consider her outside the market worth selling ebooks to. But she also wanted to know if her favorite manga, as well as text-based books, are available. Sony Connect has a few, but not so much the ones she wants (she likes shoujo). Mobipocket doesn't seem to have any. Fictionwise has very little. Google turns up this, though: http://www.1up.com/do/feature?cId=3139112. (There were also links to pages that offered ebooks formatted specifically for the PSP, but these were pretty obviously pirate sites, so I won't post here.) I predicted a while back that the format/device most likely to appeal to kids today was the PSP, Nintendo DS, or iPod video, because so many kids have them, and now we're seeing the reality.

It may turn out that e ink only appeals to those of us who vastly prefer reading to playing video games or watching movies, and are thus willing to buy a dedicated reading device. The next generation may pass us by with ebooks on inexpensive multipurpose handhelds. And if the publishers don't pay attention to these platforms, they could lose this market completely.

[Steven Lyle Jordan]

Kids like to collect stuff. They also like to be able to carry a lot of their stuff with them. They will see the value of e-books in making it easy to carry their collections of e-material with them, and take to them accordingly. They will also grow up to be the first programmers to grow up with e-books (and PDAs, and cellphones), thereby having a lifetime of experience to apply to improving them. The e-books designed by those kids will hardly be recognizeable by the likes of us!

As today there is room for hardback and paperback books, in the future there will be room for hardback, paperback, dedicated e-readers and multipurpose PDAs.

There is no doubt but that paper-based books will always be around... they will simply change their role in the overall scheme, with hardbacks largely remaining popular as "treasured" or "gift" products, and paperbacks being replaced by e-books as "the cheap version" of books. Hardback textbooks and possibly high-end magazines may disappear eventually, possibly replaced by specially-dedicated "e-textbook readers," high image quality readers with powerful search and cross-referencing engines. (That reader will be kick for comics too, kids!)

Kids are just like adults, in that they will go with the thing that makes their lives easier. E-books and e-book readers will eventually do that for them, and when they do, watch out!