I read in the newspaper that there will soon be a sony eBook that holds tens of thousands of books, and it boasts a screen that does not flicker and strain the eyes. People often imagine that the eBook is intimidating for printers like ourselves, but they are not, they actually go further to help us realise what is satisfying about a real book. Also they take the burden of mass communication off of us bookbinders. Wouldn’t it be great if Dan Brown’s books were only passed on as mp3-like files, leaving paper for that immanent encounter with literature at its best? Bestsellers may no longer be mistaken for books! Hardcore instead of hardback. But that doesn’t seem entirely satisfying to me, as an argument. It prompts an interesting question, how can we be critical about books without just being snobbish? And the other big question for the eBestseller: how will they do those obligatory big bobbly gold letters for the authors name if they have flat screens?
