Final Thoughts

Finishing up this book the author made a point that I can see happening in the future. He compared books in the future to how candles are now. Where candles used to be our only source of light at night but now that we have electricity candles have become more decoration. Comparing this to books was interesting to me because of how similar the two are. Books used to be our source of information and knowledge where as now we have the Internet and cell phones where we can look up everything we need to know. The author made the point that in the future books will become mere decorations and collectors items. This is something I could see happening, but to add to it I think that books will become more elaborate, like they were before the invention of the printing press. 

I think that I can see this happening because it's already a thing, when you go into someones house and they have books laid out on a coffee table or on a bookshelf that are purely decorative. No one goes home and looks at pictures of classic cars in a book bigger than a two year old. (and if you do you're much stronger than me, those books are heavy) These types of books are purchased purely to be decorations and make the homeowner look studious or to represent their interests. People also do this with normal books, we put them on display as a way to show how many we have or how much we read. I'm guilty of that, I like to have all my books in a place where they can be seen right when someone walks in. 

So the thought of printed books going in this direction isn't really a giant leap for me, instead it seems like this is where we're at right now. I don't think this is something we should be upset about though, the author makes the point that it's not the format that matters but the ideas inside the book. This is more important to me, if in the future books are all digital except for the elaborate, expensive ones that collectors own I would be sad because I would have to spend a ton of money but I would be happy to read eBooks. For me the format isn't as important as the ideas they possess and that ideas still get put out into the world.