The future of bookshelves

[Kumabjorn]

If you were a furniture maker would you reduce your product line of bookshelves? And more importantly in a bookshelf free future how are people going to brag about their erudition?

[plib]

Milkcrates!

[caleb72]

A touchscreen with an embedded Calibre-type program linked to a NAS or similar.

[Rob Lister]

Originally Posted by Kumabjorn

If you were a furniture maker would you reduce your product line of bookshelves?

Not for a while, not yet. I'm actually looking to buy a new bookshelf to handle some of my overflow that I don't want to relegate to the cardboard boxes in the closets. It won't be new though.

Originally Posted by Kumabjorn

And more importantly in a bookshelf free future how are people going to brag about their erudition?

Dinner parties?

That's a good question. I admit to 'showing off' my books, at least somewhat. Not necessarily because of content or literary value, but more so because many of them are high-quality collector items, some of [almost] museum quality.

The shelves in my home office however do not host collectables, or even decorative works; they're full of technical and reference manuals, periodicals, and other works I use[d] mostly in the course of my trade. I could probably get rid of them altogether now as most everything they contain can more readily and reliable be pulled from the internet.

But I won't. Sentimental value.

[charlesatan]

I'd keep the bookshelves.

And the hypothesis assumes books will disappear

[morantis]

Sell your bookshelves to the archivists as they start to store the ancient medium of reading called the "book."

[Kumabjorn]

Originally Posted by charlesatan

I'd keep the bookshelves.

And the hypothesis assumes books will disappear

I believe they will go the way of the old vinyl records. First the 78 r.p.m (de luxe coffee table books) will disappear, then the 33 r.p.m album (hard cover) soon to be followed by the EP (trade paper back) and finally the 45 r.p.m single (mass paper back).
You and i won't see it, when our children reaches our age they will talk nostalgically about books, and our grand-children will hold on to heirlooms but they won't find new books. Their children will wonder why the hell old people refer to texts as books.

[elcreative]

Originally Posted by Kumabjorn

I believe they will go the way of the old vinyl records. First the 78 r.p.m (de luxe coffee table books) will disappear, then the 33 r.p.m album (hard cover) soon to be followed by the EP (trade paper back) and finally the 45 r.p.m single (mass paper back).
You and i won't see it, when our children reaches our age they will talk nostalgically about books, and our grand-children will hold on to heirlooms but they won't find new books. Their children will wonder why the hell old people refer to texts as books.

What have you got against books? You keep predicting their end but it's quite clear that it's not going to happen... hey, you can still get cuneiform tablets you know, let alone scrolls and runic carvings...

Fiction will move more and more towards the eBook but much non-fiction will require a lot more advances in tech before they are anywhere near a satisfactory substitute for paper... and your analogy is flawed as well in that vinyl is still selling well, maybe a niche but it's a large niche that actually grew over the last year despite the economic downturn...

[tubemonkey]

Originally Posted by Kumabjorn

Their children will wonder why the hell old people refer to texts as books.

I still use the term LP when referring to a CD

[tubemonkey]

Originally Posted by elcreative

What have you got against books? You keep predicting their end but it's quite clear that it's not going to happen... hey, you can still get cuneiform tablets you know, let alone scrolls and runic carvings...

Paper books are going the way of the dinosaur and buggy whip. The sooner, the better.

[QuantumIguana]

Originally Posted by Kumabjorn

I believe they will go the way of the old vinyl records. First the 78 r.p.m (de luxe coffee table books) will disappear, then the 33 r.p.m album (hard cover) soon to be followed by the EP (trade paper back) and finally the 45 r.p.m single (mass paper back).
You and i won't see it, when our children reaches our age they will talk nostalgically about books, and our grand-children will hold on to heirlooms but they won't find new books. Their children will wonder why the hell old people refer to texts as books.

I don't think they will go the way of vinyl records. Most people couldn't tell if they were listening to a CD, an MP3 or a good quality vinyl record. Hardcore audiophiles might be able to tell the difference, but for most people, the experience is essentially the same. It's obvious whether you are reading a paper book or an e-book. They offer different experiences and people's preferences differ. I do think that the percentage of the market taken by paper books will decrease, but not to the level that vinyl has.

And to answer your original question, if I owned a company which made book cases, I'd continue making them, because the demand still is high for book cases. And even if we do switch entirely to e-books, people will still buy book cases, they will just put other things on them.

[pagansoul]

You act like books are the only things you keep on shelves. In my bedroom I keep everything from photo albums to jewelery boxes in my bookcase. In my media room I have my DVD, Blue-rays and statues. In my livingroom, books, magazines, pictures and anything else I can fit.

[HomeInMyShoes]

^Bingo! And what about your collection or retro readers? Complete line of K1 to K37.

[apbschmitz]

Originally Posted by Kumabjorn

I believe they will go the way of the old vinyl records. … when our children reach our age they will talk nostalgically about books, and our grand-children will hold on to heirlooms but they won't find new books. Their children will wonder why the hell old people refer to texts as books.

As dad to a 25-year-old sorta hipster who buys loads of vinyl that she plays on a retro turntable, I'd bet more heavily on the kids of the future rediscovering the physical book and applying to old fetishizer to it. First editions will be big. Ditto for illustrated books. And bookcases — lookout! They'll have anti-sag reinforcement and glass doors to better concentrate that old musty smell. The proud owner will open the doors and invite guests to inhale the mold of decades past.

[Catlady]

Originally Posted by Kumabjorn

I believe they will go the way of the old vinyl records. First the 78 r.p.m (de luxe coffee table books) will disappear, then the 33 r.p.m album (hard cover) soon to be followed by the EP (trade paper back) and finally the 45 r.p.m single (mass paper back).
You and i won't see it, when our children reaches our age they will talk nostalgically about books, and our grand-children will hold on to heirlooms but they won't find new books. Their children will wonder why the hell old people refer to texts as books.

But the trend now is a return to vinyl.