The Vook Blog Vook: Read it, Watch it.

After a walk through Sausalito tonight, I stopped to examine the books in the window of our local bookshop, not many left around here. A quote from page 100 of Anthony Cronin’s Yeats is Dead was posted on the window

“I think books are wonderful. If they had never been invented and somebody thought of them now, they would be the greatest things ever. I can’t think of anything that had given so much happiness to humanity. No batteries, no wires, no earphones. Absolutely silent, don’t interfere with anybody else, you can take them anywhere with you, in bed, into the bath. And they can’t be broken. You can lie on them, sit on them, prop the door or window sash open and you still can’t damage them.”

Several thoughts rolled around in my head. The quote is factually correct and it captures the sentimentality most of us feel about our physical books. Also, the book store owner is probably feeling defensive as the world changes around her.

I had a final competing thought as I walked home, technology is like fire and water, it goes where it wants and not much can stop it.

Related posts:

1. E-books are crossing the chasm
2. iTunes: The Long Tail Challenge
3. Books in the post-PC world
4. If Twitter can save reporting, think what Vook can do for books
5. A “Wide-Open World” for E-Books