If you have Kids or Grandkids...Can you Help me out here?

[SheilaT]

34. Real books are not dead and will never die.

I find it hard to believe that a relatively small electronic device can begin to match the quality of an actual picture book. Especially if you want to read to more than one child at a time.

There are any number of things about the prediction that soon we will all be doing all of our reading on little devices. One is, that if the electricity goes or if the battery wears out, you can't read the thing. As long as there's some kind of light source, real books are still readable.

There is also that factor of being able to easily switch back and forth between different parts of a physical book, especially if you want to keep referring to a map or a chart or a picture or anything that is not the text directly in front of you.

Another is the sheer cost. The devices cost several hundred dollars up front. And then, the cost of many books is greater than many real books. Plus, you can't exactly share a book you've just finished, other than by passing your little device to another person, and then what are you going to read? It is that infinite (or nearly infinite) share-ability of real books that I treasure.

And god forbid we ever have an EMP.

This is not to say no one should have a little electronic book thingy. I can certainly see the value of them in many circumstances. But they will never replace the real thing. They will simply exist alongside them.