Hard books are on their way to extinction, according to Kevin Kelly, writing in The Technium. He states:
"We are in a special moment that will not last beyond the end of this century: Paper books are plentiful. They are cheap and everywhere, from airports to drug stores to libraries to bookstores to the shelves of millions of homes. There has never been a better time to be a lover of paper books. But very rapidly the production of paper books will essentially cease, and the collections in homes will dwindle, and even local libraries will not be supported to house books -- particularly popular titles. Rare books will collect in a few rare book libraries, and for the most part common paper books archives will become uncommon. It seems hard to believe now, but within a few generations, seeing a actual paper book will be as rare for most people as seeing an actual lion."
Kevin Kelly then goes on to describe a new effort by Brewster Kahle, the founder of the Internet Archive. Brewster noticed that Google and Amazon and other countries scanning books would cut non-rare books open to scan them, or toss them out after scanning. He felt this destruction was dangerous for the culture. Brewster hopes to preserve at least one copy of every physical book published in order to preserve these valuable resources. Brewster's work was described briefly in an article last week in this newsletter at http://goo.gl/5etdw although Kevin Kelly's newer article contains a more detailed description than the earlier article.
You can read When Hard Books Disappear by Kevin Kelly at http://goo.gl/GXMZb.
You can also watch and listen to my interview of Brewster Kahle recorded last February at http://goo.gl/ZOdWF.
You can read When Hard Books Disappear by Kevin Kelly at http://goo.gl/GXMZb.
You can also watch and listen to my interview of Brewster Kahle recorded last February at http://goo.gl/ZOdWF.
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