The future of bookshelves - Page 2

Kumabjorn · 05-29-2012, 10:40 AM

Quote:

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...

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...

I love books, have absolutely nothing against them. As for runic carvings, they might be around but there aren't a lot of new ones being made, same goes for scrolls.
I am also aware that there is a nieche for records, but lets face it, hit lists aren't based on how many records were sold that last month, now it is all about downloads. That is what I predict for books, no matter how much you and I might dislike those changes.

Kumabjorn · 05-29-2012, 10:41 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by tubemonkey

I still use the term LP when referring to a CD

That is why you're still a monkey and the rest of us has evolved into homo sapiens.

Kumabjorn · 05-29-2012, 10:44 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by 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.

But what has the most prominent place next to the bed?

Kumabjorn · 05-29-2012, 10:46 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Catlady

But the trend now is a return to vinyl.

And the trend in 2037 will be to return to books, at least for a while.

tubemonkey · 05-29-2012, 11:03 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Kumabjorn

That is why you're still a monkey and the rest of us has evolved into homo sapiens.

I'm gonna get you for that one

Kumabjorn · 05-29-2012, 11:10 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by tubemonkey

I'm gonna get you for that one

I know you will and i happily look forward to it.

morriss003 · 05-29-2012, 04:31 PM

When I look around my room at my two giant bookcases and the smaller one and the books scattered around the room that I don't have room for on my bookcases, what strikes me is how my room would be different if I had just the small bookcase for those books that will never be available in ebook form. Shelves will certainly always be needed, but they won't have many books on them, and because of that, the character of our homes will be somewhat different.

MV64 · 05-29-2012, 04:54 PM

Books and libraries and bookshelves won't disappear. It'll just mean less piles of nasty books all over people's houses and we'll go back to the old fashioned bookshelves with nicely bound copies spined out for perusal. I love it.

AndrewH · 05-29-2012, 06:44 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by 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.

Exactly. (Book) shelves provide vertical storage, which is extremely valuable and can be used for so much more than books.

charlesatan · 05-29-2012, 11:18 PM

Quote:

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'm from a developing country, so while this might be true for privileged nations/citizens, not necessarily the case everywhere in the world.

Kumabjorn · 05-30-2012, 03:29 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by charlesatan

I'm from a developing country, so while this might be true for privileged nations/citizens, not necessarily the case everywhere in the world.

Are vinyl records still common in your country?

5thWiggle · 05-30-2012, 11:15 AM

Under the bed, where the dust-bunnies gambol and frolic, the Tome of Wonderment lay. It had slipped from the fingers of the Princess who fell so exhausted after a night of clandestine reading (against the express wishes of her father, the King) that even the Tome could no longer keep her from slumber. Slipping from the relaxing fingers of the Princess, the Tome succumbed to gravity’s inexorable lure and fell. Bouncing off the stuffed Unicorn-With-Just-One-Eye-And-No-Horn-But-Is-Really-A-Unicorn-Not-A-Horse, the Tome exited the normal world and entered the Realm of Shadows.
When dawn broke and the Morning Bells tolled, the Princess begrudgingly awoke. Despite being still sleepy from the excesses of the night before, the Princess was eager to resume her perusal of the enchanting Tome and ignore the drudgeries of the morning routine. Bleary-eyed, she made a cursory search for the beloved book but found it not.
“Alas!” she wailed, “My beloved book is gone! Woe is me!”
“But what could have become of it?” she wondered as she glanced around the room. Then, her eyes fell upon the Royal Bunk-Bed (loving made by Tromsö, elf from the Land of Ikea), and noticed that the top mattress was empty!
“Aha! My Evil Twin Sister is missing, and my book is gone. She must be the culprit of this hideous outrage”
The thought of her Evil Twin Sister enjoying the Tome of Wonderment, while the Princess herself was bereft, soon had her collapse in a heap sobbing inconsolably.
The sound of the wailing, rending of clothes and gnashing of teeth brought the King from his morning absolutions.
“Dearest Princess, what vexes thee so?” wondered the King.
“Alas, alack and woe is me! My Evil Twin Sister has wronged me so! She has stolen my Tome of Wonderment”
Having heard this sort of thing before, this statement did raise doubt in the mind of the King. “But Princess,” the King said calmly, smiling though it hurt, “are you not casting false accusations upon your Beloved Sister? For it was not but a moment ago that I passed her in the dining hall (where you should be as well, but are not), dutifully eating her breakfast. Of books, I saw none. Perchance it is still here though you see it not.”
Looking about the room, the King indeed saw many books, though none were in their appointed place amid the shelves (artfully wrought by Billy, also of the Land of Ikea) and none were the Tome of Wonderment. “If thou would put thy books away, instead of leaving them lay where thee has dropped them, thou could find thy books and the Royal Treasury would not be squandered so on the Artisans of the Land of Ikea.”, the King grumbled under his breath. “Spending good coin to gain shelves that hold aught but dust...” he continued, “Good Elf Billy will see no more of my gold till my daughters tidy this midden!”
Calming himself with a deep breath, the King surveyed the Princess’ bedroom. Spying several suspicious shapes upon the bed, the King summoned his Might and Magic. Casting aside the bedclothes, he shouted “Behold!” But it was not to be. Though there were indeed books amid the linen, none were the wanted Tome. “Gone forever!” wailed the Princess. “I’ll never find out how it ends!”
Resigning himself, the King prostrated himself before the Royal Bunk-Bed cast the spell of Lumination Expel Darkness (LED for short). He projected light into the Land of Shadows, then, scattering the demons and dust-bunnies alike, he drew the revealed treasures unto himself. There, amidst forgotten toys, lost socks, and the dust of centuries was the Book! “There!” sneezed the King. “Your sister is innocent of this crime. Now go dry your tears, blow your nose, and ready yourself for your tutelage.”
When she saw the book, the Princess’ eyes lit up. She hugged the Tome of Wonderment to herself as if it were the most precious object in the entire world. Without stopping to wipe her face, she ran forward and gave the King a large, wet kiss. Then, still clutching the Book, she skipped toward the door. Pausing at the door, she turned to the King and said: “Daddy, you shouldn’t squeeze my unicorn so tightly. It’s not your toy, you know.”
As the Princess happily skipped away, the King violently cast the Unicorn-With-Just-One-Eye-And-No-Horn-But-Is-Really-A-Unicorn-Not-A-Horse to the floor and vowed to revisit the Princess’ bedroom armed with a garbage bin and a shovel.

Moral of the story: In certain parts of the realm, the floor is the only bookshelf used anyway...

BWinmill · 05-30-2012, 11:56 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by elcreative

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

THIS! A lot of people seem to forget that there is a lot of people who regularly read non-fiction books, and that ereaders/tablets/computers aren't the perfect medium for reading those books. So the only bookshelves I'd stop producing are the really shallow ones that can't handle larger format books.

As for the future of print books, I expect certain markets to diminish over the next decade. Other markets will continue to thrive.

Fozzybear · 05-31-2012, 05:32 PM

Not quite sure why some people become so evangelical about this subject, as though it's an affront to all that is good and pure that people have the gall (nay, the audacity!) to read words on pieces of paper rather than an electronic device. How dare they!?

"Be gone, I say, foul addicts of Gutenberg's festering inky press of despair! Leave this place forthwith and take with you the malodorous reek of putrid mustiness that clings, parasite-like, to your yellowing sheafs of fetid woodpulp. Too long have you lingered on, the pall of death wafting from your bindings and poisoning our minds."

DarnellSaki · 09-18-2012, 01:57 PM

Hear my prophecy!!

In the future, owning physical books will be a status symbol for wealth and education. The wealthy will have expansive collections of leather bound books in mahogany bookshelves as the price for physical books will skyrocket due to the availability of ebooks and their very low price point of tablets, e-readers, and holographic books. Physical books will only be printed and purchased in specialty shops by the super wealthy and set up in their houses as trophies.. (victorian style houses btw as the rich will grow to eschew all forms of modern living and regress back to old customs because they can afford to, while the working classes won't be able to make a living without relying on the technology of the time)

If this comes to pass I shall be exalted as a mystic!!
..but most likely it won't so I should just write a spec sci-fi story instead.

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05-29-2012, 04:31 PM	#22
morriss003 Evangelist Posts: 438 Karma: 3409790 Join Date: Feb 2009 Location: Maui Device: kindle	When I look around my room at my two giant bookcases and the smaller one and the books scattered around the room that I don't have room for on my bookcases, what strikes me is how my room would be different if I had just the small bookcase for those books that will never be available in ebook form. Shelves will certainly always be needed, but they won't have many books on them, and because of that, the character of our homes will be somewhat different.

05-29-2012, 04:54 PM	#23
MV64 Addict Posts: 271 Karma: 2000000 Join Date: Jan 2009 Device: Sony PRS-505	Books and libraries and bookshelves won't disappear. It'll just mean less piles of nasty books all over people's houses and we'll go back to the old fashioned bookshelves with nicely bound copies spined out for perusal. I love it.

05-30-2012, 11:15 AM	#27
5thWiggle Benevolent Evil Lord Posts: 1,704 Karma: 48339466 Join Date: Jan 2011 Location: Evil Canada (We all have goatees!) Device: Galaxy Note 8.0, Galaxy Note, iPad Mini, PocketEdge(retired)	Under the bed, where the dust-bunnies gambol and frolic, the Tome of Wonderment lay. It had slipped from the fingers of the Princess who fell so exhausted after a night of clandestine reading (against the express wishes of her father, the King) that even the Tome could no longer keep her from slumber. Slipping from the relaxing fingers of the Princess, the Tome succumbed to gravity’s inexorable lure and fell. Bouncing off the stuffed Unicorn-With-Just-One-Eye-And-No-Horn-But-Is-Really-A-Unicorn-Not-A-Horse, the Tome exited the normal world and entered the Realm of Shadows. When dawn broke and the Morning Bells tolled, the Princess begrudgingly awoke. Despite being still sleepy from the excesses of the night before, the Princess was eager to resume her perusal of the enchanting Tome and ignore the drudgeries of the morning routine. Bleary-eyed, she made a cursory search for the beloved book but found it not. “Alas!” she wailed, “My beloved book is gone! Woe is me!” “But what could have become of it?” she wondered as she glanced around the room. Then, her eyes fell upon the Royal Bunk-Bed (loving made by Tromsö, elf from the Land of Ikea), and noticed that the top mattress was empty! “Aha! My Evil Twin Sister is missing, and my book is gone. She must be the culprit of this hideous outrage” The thought of her Evil Twin Sister enjoying the Tome of Wonderment, while the Princess herself was bereft, soon had her collapse in a heap sobbing inconsolably. The sound of the wailing, rending of clothes and gnashing of teeth brought the King from his morning absolutions. “Dearest Princess, what vexes thee so?” wondered the King. “Alas, alack and woe is me! My Evil Twin Sister has wronged me so! She has stolen my Tome of Wonderment” Having heard this sort of thing before, this statement did raise doubt in the mind of the King. “But Princess,” the King said calmly, smiling though it hurt, “are you not casting false accusations upon your Beloved Sister? For it was not but a moment ago that I passed her in the dining hall (where you should be as well, but are not), dutifully eating her breakfast. Of books, I saw none. Perchance it is still here though you see it not.” Looking about the room, the King indeed saw many books, though none were in their appointed place amid the shelves (artfully wrought by Billy, also of the Land of Ikea) and none were the Tome of Wonderment. “If thou would put thy books away, instead of leaving them lay where thee has dropped them, thou could find thy books and the Royal Treasury would not be squandered so on the Artisans of the Land of Ikea.”, the King grumbled under his breath. “Spending good coin to gain shelves that hold aught but dust...” he continued, “Good Elf Billy will see no more of my gold till my daughters tidy this midden!” Calming himself with a deep breath, the King surveyed the Princess’ bedroom. Spying several suspicious shapes upon the bed, the King summoned his Might and Magic. Casting aside the bedclothes, he shouted “Behold!” But it was not to be. Though there were indeed books amid the linen, none were the wanted Tome. “Gone forever!” wailed the Princess. “I’ll never find out how it ends!” Resigning himself, the King prostrated himself before the Royal Bunk-Bed cast the spell of Lumination Expel Darkness (LED for short). He projected light into the Land of Shadows, then, scattering the demons and dust-bunnies alike, he drew the revealed treasures unto himself. There, amidst forgotten toys, lost socks, and the dust of centuries was the Book! “There!” sneezed the King. “Your sister is innocent of this crime. Now go dry your tears, blow your nose, and ready yourself for your tutelage.” When she saw the book, the Princess’ eyes lit up. She hugged the Tome of Wonderment to herself as if it were the most precious object in the entire world. Without stopping to wipe her face, she ran forward and gave the King a large, wet kiss. Then, still clutching the Book, she skipped toward the door. Pausing at the door, she turned to the King and said: “Daddy, you shouldn’t squeeze my unicorn so tightly. It’s not your toy, you know.” As the Princess happily skipped away, the King violently cast the Unicorn-With-Just-One-Eye-And-No-Horn-But-Is-Really-A-Unicorn-Not-A-Horse to the floor and vowed to revisit the Princess’ bedroom armed with a garbage bin and a shovel. Moral of the story: In certain parts of the realm, the floor is the only bookshelf used anyway...

05-31-2012, 05:32 PM	#29
Fozzybear Enthusiast Posts: 48 Karma: 45968 Join Date: Feb 2012 Location: UK Device: Kindle Keyboard 3G	Not quite sure why some people become so evangelical about this subject, as though it's an affront to all that is good and pure that people have the gall (nay, the audacity!) to read words on pieces of paper rather than an electronic device. How dare they!? "Be gone, I say, foul addicts of Gutenberg's festering inky press of despair! Leave this place forthwith and take with you the malodorous reek of putrid mustiness that clings, parasite-like, to your yellowing sheafs of fetid woodpulp. Too long have you lingered on, the pall of death wafting from your bindings and poisoning our minds."

09-18-2012, 01:57 PM	#30
DarnellSaki The Boy With 1000 Stories Posts: 11 Karma: 500980 Join Date: Jun 2012 Location: Los Angeles Device: Nexuz 7	Hear my prophecy!! In the future, owning physical books will be a status symbol for wealth and education. The wealthy will have expansive collections of leather bound books in mahogany bookshelves as the price for physical books will skyrocket due to the availability of ebooks and their very low price point of tablets, e-readers, and holographic books. Physical books will only be printed and purchased in specialty shops by the super wealthy and set up in their houses as trophies.. (victorian style houses btw as the rich will grow to eschew all forms of modern living and regress back to old customs because they can afford to, while the working classes won't be able to make a living without relying on the technology of the time) If this comes to pass I shall be exalted as a mystic!! ..but most likely it won't so I should just write a spec sci-fi story instead.

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