Fire and Knowledge

Long ago, scrolls were used for reading and writing. They were better than stone, but they were still cumbersome and limiting, and were eventually replaced with books. Books were better in practically every way. Now with our amazing feats of computing progress, we are back to using scrolls.

Computer screens will not replace books any time soon because scrolling is less functional than physical pages. Printed books are easy to use – the medium is practically transparent. Flipping pages are the best technique of browsing we have yet invented. Also books are more environmentally friendly: they are made from renewal resources, do not require electricity for each viewing, and are biodegradable. They are easy on the eyes, easy to write notes in margins and underline sentences. And so on.

A recent NYT article says that “no trees are destroyed to make e-books.” They forget to mention that oil and coal are burned instead, and that the electronics in the “e-reader” will (practically) never biodegrade and will instead release toxins into the soil (or, if burned, into the atmosphere).

Until a computer can make reading a book more usable, enjoyable, and ecological, the printed book will reign for serious readers. When they make a computer that looks like a book, feels like a book, is easy on the eyes, biodegradable, and uses no electricity, I might be interested. Until then, I’ll be using something far more advanced than an e-book reader: a real book.