November 23rd, 2009 / 10:41 am
Snippets & Technology

Via The Reading Experience, here’s Alan Kaufman’s harebrained essay on the death of the physical book.

Oh man, I’m going to miss bookstores too, but this guy is just a nut. He says, “The book is fast becoming the despised Jew of our culture. Der Jude is now Der Book.”

I used to think snowboarding wasn’t going to last but it’s like 15 years later and people are still doing it and everyone is about the same amount of happiness.

17 Comments

  1. Adam Humphreys

      no thanks to shaun white (fuck sw)

  2. Adam Humphreys

      no thanks to shaun white (fuck sw)

  3. Adam Robinson

      Oh, is he a snowboarder?

  4. Adam Robinson

      Oh, is he a snowboarder?

  5. Gene Morgan

      I stopped reading when the essay got all Glenn Beck on my eyes.

  6. Gene Morgan

      I stopped reading when the essay got all Glenn Beck on my eyes.

  7. Adam Robinson

      yeah, what’s with the center justify? And the flames!

  8. Adam Robinson

      yeah, what’s with the center justify? And the flames!

  9. Adam Humphreys

      yeah, he’s the worst

  10. Adam Humphreys

      yeah, he’s the worst

  11. mimi

      OK, interesting link, and I read the article with interest. (And did you notice how the flames get higher and higher as you read!?) (And did you notice how I used “interest” twice in my first sentence?)

      I also lament the demise of small, independent bookstores, and being in the East Bay, I sorely miss Cody’s (both) and Black Oak. However, I attribute the early history of this demise more to “big box” booksellers like Barnes and Noble and Borders (with their nasty cafes slinging bad coffee and worse baked goods) (I have this one friend who always wants to meet and hangout at her local B&N cafe – eeeesh – ) and, of course, to Amazon (from which, admittedly, I’ve ordered any number of times).

      But there is good news for the East Bay:

      http://www.sfgate.com/cgi-bin/article.cgi?f=/c/a/2009/10/10/BU9I1A3HBH.DTL

      And, another friend just turned me on to Small Press Distribution in Berkeley, which I must check out soon! She says they allow walk-ins to buy retail. But maybe that’s not really so? Maybe it’s inappropriate for me to say that here? (SPD, if you read this, let me know! Can I come in and shop?)

      I will always love a hand-held book, printed in ink, on paper. But I can not think that the perpetuation of literature (any literature, all literature) in the cybersphere is a but a good thing. Literature should be “saved” by any means. Books were “saved” in human memories and passed along to others by an aging generation, after all, in Fahrenheit 451.

      And to future generations, literature (as well as most everything else) being accessible electronically will be/seem normal. This IS evolution. Evolution is a fascinating and natural, inescapable force.

      I do think of all the trees that could be spared by fewer books being printed (Dan Brown, go away!) but what right do I have to say which books should or shouldn’t be printed? A lot of people like to read (can’t even think of any names here – Koontz? Patterson?) and Harry Potter has gotten a whole lot of young kids reading long books.(Thank goodness, on the other hand, that I have the _right to express my opinion_ on which books should or shouldn’t….) I am the daughter of a librarian (who read voraciously and NEVER bought a book). The only thing my little brother read, for years, was car magazines, and by her, this was good. She was just happy that he was reading.

      I must admit that Kaufman’s use of the “Jews and the Holocaust” metaphor really rubs me the wrong way. Burning books is one thing, incinerating human beings is quite another.

      So, I’ve rambled a bit here, but I think I’ve said most of what I want to say, and I’m plum outta time.

  12. mimi

      OK, interesting link, and I read the article with interest. (And did you notice how the flames get higher and higher as you read!?) (And did you notice how I used “interest” twice in my first sentence?)

      I also lament the demise of small, independent bookstores, and being in the East Bay, I sorely miss Cody’s (both) and Black Oak. However, I attribute the early history of this demise more to “big box” booksellers like Barnes and Noble and Borders (with their nasty cafes slinging bad coffee and worse baked goods) (I have this one friend who always wants to meet and hangout at her local B&N cafe – eeeesh – ) and, of course, to Amazon (from which, admittedly, I’ve ordered any number of times).

      But there is good news for the East Bay:

      http://www.sfgate.com/cgi-bin/article.cgi?f=/c/a/2009/10/10/BU9I1A3HBH.DTL

      And, another friend just turned me on to Small Press Distribution in Berkeley, which I must check out soon! She says they allow walk-ins to buy retail. But maybe that’s not really so? Maybe it’s inappropriate for me to say that here? (SPD, if you read this, let me know! Can I come in and shop?)

      I will always love a hand-held book, printed in ink, on paper. But I can not think that the perpetuation of literature (any literature, all literature) in the cybersphere is a but a good thing. Literature should be “saved” by any means. Books were “saved” in human memories and passed along to others by an aging generation, after all, in Fahrenheit 451.

      And to future generations, literature (as well as most everything else) being accessible electronically will be/seem normal. This IS evolution. Evolution is a fascinating and natural, inescapable force.

      I do think of all the trees that could be spared by fewer books being printed (Dan Brown, go away!) but what right do I have to say which books should or shouldn’t be printed? A lot of people like to read (can’t even think of any names here – Koontz? Patterson?) and Harry Potter has gotten a whole lot of young kids reading long books.(Thank goodness, on the other hand, that I have the _right to express my opinion_ on which books should or shouldn’t….) I am the daughter of a librarian (who read voraciously and NEVER bought a book). The only thing my little brother read, for years, was car magazines, and by her, this was good. She was just happy that he was reading.

      I must admit that Kaufman’s use of the “Jews and the Holocaust” metaphor really rubs me the wrong way. Burning books is one thing, incinerating human beings is quite another.

      So, I’ve rambled a bit here, but I think I’ve said most of what I want to say, and I’m plum outta time.

  13. Adam R

      Clay Banes, can mimi go in and shop at SPD?

  14. Adam R

      Clay Banes, can mimi go in and shop at SPD?

  15. rachel

      what is the worst about him?

  16. rachel

      what is the worst about him?

  17. This Week in Publishing 12/4/09

      […] Just kidding, that wasn’t the last e-book link. Alan Kaufman wrote an article comparing the closing of bookstores and the rise of e-books to… the Krystallnacht of Nazi Germany. No, really. He writes, “The book is fast becoming the despised Jew of our culture.” Also: the article is available on the Internet. Horrors! (via HTMLGIANT) […]