Imagine this.
You've been, at the persuasion of Natalie Goldberg, writing in journals since you were seventeen. You have over 40 of said journals over three different states.
You have a deep love of literature and used books "with DNA on them" and you have about 600 of those if you count the ones you inherited from your mother, the ones you got in college, and the ones you buy in the City to "feel better."
Imagine how many trees.
I can't give up the journals just yet, or the snail mail. I would miss the fountain pens beyond belief.
But maybe, just maybe, I can help steer the market when it comes to buying books.
Whether I wanna or not.
******
The Kindle has appeared in various on-line writings lately. For those of you who don't know what in heaven's name a Kindle is, it might be best to visit Amazon for a moment and then come back to this post.
Go ahead.
I'll wait.
Did you take a peek? Good. Now, keep in mind that years of living with a man who fought technology tooth and nail (that would be my father) and repeated attempts at "Fahrenheit 451" have made me old-fashioned in the realm of books. I didn't buy the Rocket eBook Reader. I didn't buy Sony's eBook reader. And then the Chronicle mentions a reader like Sony's or Amazon's would be more ecological.
Less trees killed.
Sound of grinding teeth here.
But I want a BOOK in my hands, with PAPER pages and new spines and summaries on the back and pictures of the author and I want to get them from INDEPENDENT BOOKSTORES who don't need one more thing to battle and for CHRIST'S SWEET SAKE I AM A WRITER, AND SHOULDN'T WRITERS OPPOSE SUCH THINGS?
Does Coldplay oppose iTunes?
Nope. They embrace it. NO ONE'S BUYING YOUR DISCS, COLDPLAY. HALF YOUR iTUNE STUFF IS FREE COLDPLAY. KINDLE BOOKS NEVER SELL FOR MORE THAN $10! WHAT ABOUT THE FUTURE OF RECORD STORES/BOOKSTORES/WRITERS OF MUSIC AND WORDS?!?!?
Okay.
Deep breath.
Coldplay loves iTunes and loves their fans and therein lies the inclination toward freebees. Authors like Toni Morrison love the Kindle because she loves words and she can get the most words with her all the time with a Kindle. Shortened up, here's the deal. Coldplay loves sharing music. Morrison loves sharing words.
Neither one of them needs the baggage of packaging to go with it.
But what about the independent bookseller?
Deep breath again, because I probably will get clobbered on this one...to save resources, we might have to quit selling books, move to a more on-line or oral tradition again, and put the independent bookseller, like the tobacco farmer, into reinvention. Ancient Greeks and Romans loved debate, and modern Americans love book clubs. Maybe, just maybe, independent bookstores could become salons of real debate, face to face, for social strength.
This is only the beginning.
I won't burn my books.
And I don't want the Kindle.
But maybe it's time to stop killing trees and start reading on-line.
After all, I still have my journal and fountain pens as a vice...right?
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4 comments:
Pondering.
The iPod holds a whole music library. And you can bring your existing music into it.
The Kindle holds, what, twenty books? All having to be bought from Amazon?
Pondering.
I think there's a future for digital books, but I don't know what it is, and I don't know that it's the Kindle. Buying one would be so very early-adopter, and that's not me...
im in favor of things kindle-ing up.... IMHO
Mike--the Kindle holds up to 200 books, newspapers, or Word documents. They do all have to be bought from Amazon, and the titles can be limited--I won't get a great selection on everything now.
Which means I still get to buy paper books sometimes... :)
DK--As am I...all part of the carbon footprint, and the fringe benefit is the "toy" factor. :)
200! I must have missed a zero somewhere!
Anyway, have fun with your new toy. Remember, he or she who dies with the most toys wins. (Wins what, they never say...)
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