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We continue to yearn for the immense pleasure of reading a book on paper, in its original edition, to enjoy its unmistakable smell, the texture of the paper, the quality of the edition and the concomitant joys of traveling with a partner, closing the book for a moment and dreamily enjoy the content of the lines we have just read.
Technological progress has made access to many books possible. It is not recommended to read on the screen because it is very tiring for the eyes, but it is often easier to get electronic copies than the physical edition. Today, it is easy to have a library of PDFs, whose collection is portable in a small memory, hence one can become a traveling library.
However, we still yearn for the immense pleasure of reading a book on paper, in its original edition, to enjoy its unmistakable smell, the texture of the paper, the quality of the edition and the concomitant joys of traveling with a partner, close for a moment the book and dreamily enjoy the content of the lines we have just read.
Milan Kundera, the unforgettable Czech writer who recently left on his eternal journey, delivered a brilliant speech at the French National Library in June 2012, where he expressed his concern for the future of literature:
“It seems to me that time, whose relentless march continues, is beginning to endanger books. Due to this anguish, for several years I have included in all my contracts a clause that stipulates that they must be published in the traditional form of a book, that they be read only on paper and not on a screen.
Logically, this wish was not fully fulfilled, because, although his books were published on paper, today there are many electronic copies. However, his concern was real: “People who walk down the street no longer have contact with those around them, they don’t even see the houses they pass by, they have wires hanging from their ears. They gesticulate, they don’t look at anyone, nobody looks at them. I wonder, are they still reading books? It is possible, but for how much longer?
Do I read books physically?
2023-07-18 11:07:30
#future #books
