The Social Life of Books

"I Don't Want To Consume Media That I Can't Interact With

That's the bottom line. When I come into contact with media, I want to do something with it. Tag it, post it, reply to it, comment on it, favorite it, share it, gift it, quote it, whatever...

When are people going to understand that digital media, be it a book, a song, a film, an article, or whatever else, is not passive media. That was analog's gig."
Venture Capitalist Fred Wilson reacting to the Amazon Kindle

When I was 6 the school playground was full of clusters of kids crowding round the lucky few who had been given digital watches with games on them. I asked my parents for such a watch for my birthday, but they didn't quite 'get it' and I received a decidedly analogue Timex. My mother says she realized her mistake when I unwrapped the watch and with a cry of anguish, demanded "But what does it do?".

All of which is a roundabout way of saying the Amazon Kindle, which was launched with a great deal of media hoopla last week does lots of things, and doesn't do others, and perhaps we should be asking ourselves what we want books to do and be as we hurtle towards a near-future where all media and all content consists of ones and zeros.

I haven't seen or played with a Kindle yet, but there is plenty of online coverage to be found here, here and elsewhere and it has certainly brought ebooks into the mainstream like nothing before. Undoubtedly the Kindle, and particularly it's wireless delivery system, is a revolutionary way of putting books in the hands of readers. But, I wonder, is that enough?

It's quite instructive to read some of the comments in the Fred Wilson post above, and also comments on uberblogger Robert Scoble's anti-Kindle rant - clearly there is much debate over whether books have to be social objects. This debate occasionally surfaces here at Penguin Towers where the book lovers among us (and there are one or two) argue the point that to immerse oneself in a book is to isolate oneself from interactivity - books should not necessarily be a shared experience, they say, and there is interaction between reader and text.

Almost lost in the noise about the Kindle was the release of a lengthy report from the National Endowment for the Arts entitled To Read or Not to Read. The conclusions are sobering for anyone in the book business. Basically, Americans are reading less and this is especially true of teens and young adults 'who are reading less often and for shorter amounts of time than other age groups and Americans of previous years'. Now I am not about to claim that this is solely because of Youtube, Xbox and Myspace and other forms of interactive digital media. But perhaps we publishers and book lovers do need to think about whether books need a social life and work out how to satisfy those who want simply to disappear into a story and those who won't consume media that they can't interact with.

 

Jeremy Ettinghausen, Digital Publisher

PS I know what I want out of an ebook reader - a vast library, accessible anytime from anywhere, a decent screen and the ability to share my discoveries with others and see what my friends are also discovering. Internet access would be pretty necessary, and one of those neat touch screens like the iPhone has. I pretty much want it all, and I actually think we're nearly there (maybe not for this Christmas though). But what do you want from an ebook reader? And, in fact, do you want an ebook reader at all? Leave your comments below...

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Comments

[Matt]

I'm sorry, but I have little use for an e-book reader. Now an e-magazine/newspaper reader, maybe. Then I can get my content as soon as its published (no more New Yorkers a week late in the mail!) and dispose of it without impact on the environment.

Maybe I'm stodgy, but I think paper is the perfect technology for text. If this is not true, will someone please explain to me why clicking the print button is the first thing every student in my university library does when confronted with an electronic journal article?

[Brandon Berntson]

I would have to agree that it seems print is still the traditional format for leisure and comfort. Though, I do know plenty of people who swear by the e-book.

[Alex]

Fred Wilson's quote about analogue media being passive is one of those about technology that has the appearance of being smart - but when you stop to think about it, it's pretty dumb. After all, did you react passively to the books you read as a child? Or did they fire up your imagination, did you draw pictures of the characters, demand your parents read the story to you over and over again? When you read a book now, do you stop thinking about it the moment you put it down? Or do you carry on thinking (and talking) about it days, weeks, and years later?

Sure, it makes sense to be able to react digitally to digital books, but it seems (to me at least) needlessly divisive to suggest analogue media was passive... The main, over-riding reason for moving to digital is not one of quality or creativity - it's convenience. To pretend otherwise is to kid yourself.

[Martin]

I feel like economics will drive this to some extent. Lost in the hullabaloo is that new books are about 50% cheaper. That may sway some.

[Joe Wikert]

What really trips folks up on the Kindle is the moniker "e-book reader." Although Amazon is aiming this mostly at e-books, the landscape changes dramatically when we start looking at it as an "e-content reader." It's not just about books. Magazines, newspapers, RSS feeds, etc., will be important content components.

Next, you're absolutely right about the ability to share your content and experience with others. None of that functionality exists in Kindle 1.0, but as I've said on my own blog, look at the original iPod from 6 years ago and compare it to the iPhone of today. Now apply that same differential and forward-thinking to Kindle 1.0 to dream about what this device might look like in 5 or 6 years. Very exciting!

[Rachel Bowen]

I devour books, curled up on my settee or snuggled up in bed. I like paperbacks, becase they are not too big and are light in weight. I don't like the older ones I have because they go yellow, but so have books I posess which ar 200 years old. I don't want to take an e-reader to bed or onto my settee.
Magazine articles, newspapers, yes, might be acceptable online - I read a lot this way, but not for long periods of reading. When I have found something I need to keep - I save it to a directory and I might even print it. Much easier than trying to look at it on-line.
I find the internet very useful for research, although I find the level of information often banal, and less than I know already.
I feel that so much 'development' is done because it can be done, not because it is really an advance on what existed before.
I write user manuals to earn my bread, and when I am documenting a GUI, I often have to print the screens, as it is easier to refer to them on paper than having to switch from one to another on-line.

I love creating books, both technical and literary with on-line applications, but I don't like to red them on-line. When I have created .PDF versions to send to clients, I need to print them to verify their accuracy.

The angle at which one's body has to be when reading on-line, is not good for the body.

Let's have our books. Printed on paper, and although I have been extolling the praises of paperbacks, how can an e-book compare with the beatuful books produces at Gregynog, or by the Kelmscott press?

Sincerely, Rachel Bowen

[Kandus Linde]

Hi Jeremy, it's Kandus in Tucson! Shnelby Hill Road says hello, I passed it en route through Flagstaff.

Not a fan of the digital book concept, no, not me. I still buy print editions of magazines, even. Books are meant to have pages for turning, smelling, and feeling paper textures.

It is inevitable with the technological track we are on, but like other advances in the techy world, one can pick and choose which gadgets to invest in. Besides, reading on a screen for too long hurts mine eyes!

Much love,
Kandus Linde

[Bill K]

You have to be able to take notes! When will the e-book reader designers realize that without the ability to mark one's reading, there's no way to make much of it?