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I have completely changed from reading physical books to reading ebooks. With a few exceptions, I've replaced my collection of roughly 1100 paperback novels and thriller with e-versions, and I donated all of my medical reference texts and replaced them with e-versions. Now I have my Nook Color -- and a Kindle 3 gathering dust -- that has every book I could ever need. Heck, I even have several hundred books on my Android phone in my pocket at all times. (Note: I have several bookshelves in my home office with collector's edition books; no such thing as a leather-bound first-edition ebook, you know.)
But I still love libraries. A library is as sacred as any church or temple. Walking into a library invokes a visceral reaction. Somewhere there will always be a 1960s version of me, wandering in awe in the public library -- the smells of polished wood and the slightly dusty smell of thousands of books mixed with the ink stamps; the wonder of the people and places and things hiding behind the spines of all colors and sizes waiting for me to discover them; the smug success of mastering the card catalog and the Dewey Decimal system; the hushed sounds of pages turning and the librarian stamping return dates on the check-out cards.
I enjoy the convenience having every book at my fingertips no matter where I am, and I have fun rooting and hacking my ereaders. But there is no handheld device that can ever -- for me -- match a half-century of going to the library.
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