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I saw this on a facebook debate.
"I don't beleive that books will ever be replaced. Books can be such a powerful source of inspiration and beauty. Granted, a book is really just a vessel for thought, and these same thoughts can be communicated just as effectively, if not more so via electronic means. But the experience of reading a book is something that is yet to be replicated by technology. I doubt it ever will.
The touch of the pages, the smell of a leather bound classic, the completely intimate experience that evolves when a reader turns the pages and the printed words come to life. The beauty of handcrafted illuminated letters in medieval texts There is nothing like it.
I believe many books are a work of art in their own right. That is, their value not only lies in the content they house, but in the emotion they evoke in the person experiencing them. This emotional response comes, in part, from the physicality of the object. The dust jacket, the cover art, the page layout, the interplay of blank and used space. A book as a physical object can not be replaced by a technological replacement, it just can't.
If we compare this to another art form, I can google Michael Angelo's David any day. I can see a picture or read about it, and probably get the information I need. But doing this will not make me catch me breath and mesmerise me the way standing in front of the real thing in the Galleria dell'Accademia does. It can't enable me to experience the way the eyes shift and David's expression changes as you move to different points in the room. Likewsie, an e-book or the internet will never give me the pleasure that comes with grabbing my pencil and underlining a favourite phrase or jotting notes on the pages edge."
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