MobileRead Forums - View Single Post - Book lovers have emotional bond with paper

Steven Lyle Jordan · 03-12-2008, 10:23 AM

@kfarmer:

You remember the smell and feel of paper. You listen to favorite music to hear familiar pops and hisses. You only enjoy art when you're in a museum. You hear a piece of music, and remember something else you were doing when you listened to it before.

Sounds to me like you're getting something out of everything but the actual content in front of you!

I realize a lot of people seem to have an incredible amount of trouble concentrating on one thing at a time, shutting out distractions, or of multi-tasking, and all of these can affect how they experience and enjoy something. After all, the human body records multiple sensations at any one time, and it's understandable that you might link a particular book read to, say, the smell of a potroast your mother was cooking the first time you read it.

But if the content itself is good, it should not depend on the impact of other sensations to remain good.

When I was a kid, I used to use a cassette recorder to record episodes of Star Trek, so I could play back audio of my favorites whenever I wanted to. It didn't matter that I couldn't actually see Kirk and Spock outwitting an opponent, or the Doomsday Machine bearing down on Commodore Decker in a pathetic little shuttlecraft, because my imagination filled in the blanks and focused past the TV hum that was captured on the lousy recordings I'd made.

When I read, I don't think about the state of rot in the paper I'm holding, or in how many ounces and available RAM is contained in my PDA. I can read on a noisy train, and I'm not disturbed until it stops and I realize I have to get off. I can enjoy a quality piece of art in person, on paper, on a movie screen, or on my TV. I can listen to an old album, and when I get into the music, the pops and hisses fade into oblivion.

I've never needed a particular medium to make the content enjoyable. I just needed the content, let my imagination soak it all in, and the medium became incredibly unimportant.

I'm not saying it sucks to be you. Just saying that Content is King. Long Live the King, baby!

03-12-2008, 10:23 AM	#41
Steven Lyle Jordan Grand Sorcerer Posts: 8,478 Karma: 5171130 Join Date: Jan 2006 Device: none	@kfarmer: You remember the smell and feel of paper. You listen to favorite music to hear familiar pops and hisses. You only enjoy art when you're in a museum. You hear a piece of music, and remember something else you were doing when you listened to it before. Sounds to me like you're getting something out of everything but the actual content in front of you! I realize a lot of people seem to have an incredible amount of trouble concentrating on one thing at a time, shutting out distractions, or of multi-tasking, and all of these can affect how they experience and enjoy something. After all, the human body records multiple sensations at any one time, and it's understandable that you might link a particular book read to, say, the smell of a potroast your mother was cooking the first time you read it. But if the content itself is good, it should not depend on the impact of other sensations to remain good. When I was a kid, I used to use a cassette recorder to record episodes of Star Trek, so I could play back audio of my favorites whenever I wanted to. It didn't matter that I couldn't actually see Kirk and Spock outwitting an opponent, or the Doomsday Machine bearing down on Commodore Decker in a pathetic little shuttlecraft, because my imagination filled in the blanks and focused past the TV hum that was captured on the lousy recordings I'd made. When I read, I don't think about the state of rot in the paper I'm holding, or in how many ounces and available RAM is contained in my PDA. I can read on a noisy train, and I'm not disturbed until it stops and I realize I have to get off. I can enjoy a quality piece of art in person, on paper, on a movie screen, or on my TV. I can listen to an old album, and when I get into the music, the pops and hisses fade into oblivion. I've never needed a particular medium to make the content enjoyable. I just needed the content, let my imagination soak it all in, and the medium became incredibly unimportant. I'm not saying it sucks to be you. Just saying that Content is King. Long Live the King, baby!