The Future of Books

Interesting post from TechCrunch regarding the future of books and publishing: "The Future of Books:  A Dystopian Timeline"

As a lover of books, and someone who will always love the feel of an actual book in hand, I find the article somewhat depressing.  It is offered as a 'dystopian' future.  But I can't really disagree with the general progression he describes here.  Maybe not necessarily at that pace... in less than two years, he thinks that ebook sales will surpass sales of regular books.  Maybe they will, I haven't looked at any figures.  But the way I buy books, I don't know if that's true.

I definitely see books becoming what records are today - relics of the past that nerds and hipster use to adorn their bookshelves.  I certainly will be one of those people.  Even if I do get an eReader soon, which I have been considering, I will not dispose of my current collection.

I think humans are materialistic creatures, and we like to show off our possessions.  Book collections are like that.  I like being able to hold certain books in my hand.  I read Mockingjay on my Droid, but I still have a desire to go out and purchase an actual copy.

I would be surprised, though, if my future children ever had such a desire.  Proud, of course.  But who knows - maybe in thirty years people will wonder why we wasted so much paper printing books.

We definitely live in an interesting time.