Newsweek reporter:
Do you still read books on paper?
Amazong CEO Jeff Bezos:
Not if I can help it.
Edward Tenner, a very astute observer of the cultural and technology scenes, gives his take on all this, and more, in a recent
Atlantic Monthly online blogpost worth reading.
http://correspondents.theatlantic.co...ndle_print.php
Competition from electronic displays may benefit printed books by provoking new attention to their distinctive features, as the children's book renaissance shows; I'll have more to say about that in a later post. And if Amazon continues to lose interest in print, there might be opportunities for the independent bookstores that have survived online competition, chains, and discounters. As for the printed book's death watch, I can only repeat the conclusion of Mr. Bezos' interview: "Not if I can help it."
It's a good think piece about the future of books on paper and on screens, and Tenner looks at both with an open mind. He even mentions, briefly, the recent Hitler ebook rant meme that Alan Kaufman unfortunately started, and that Steve Jordan posted on here at MR, with a huge outpouring of anger at Kaufman here.