As readers may know, we’re “book people” here at Paperblanks – we’ve always treated the physical book as an art piece and a thing of beauty. So naturally we’re fascinated by the debates and discussions and stats surrounding e-books and e-readers. And it’s hard to deny the inevitable: e-books and iPads are taking over as the most efficient delivery system for the written word. But does that necessarily mean the end of the physical book as we know it?
Michael Agresta has a great piece in Slate about this very subject: “What Will Become of the Paper Book?” He writes that, while the physical book may lose it’s traditional role in society, its other qualities, like its potential for physical beauty, will help keep it alive. Basically the book will survive as – art pieces and things of beauty. In fact Agresta envisions that “the next generation of paper books will likely rival the art hanging beside them on the walls for beauty, expense, and ‘aura’”
And how can we be completely upset about that possibility? 🙂
And imagine the possibilities: where every book is a beautifully-designed well-constructed object…
…and where every physical-book publisher will share the same reverence for the book that we have!
Read all of Agresta’s piece here, and tell us below what you think of the possibilities of a world where paper books “rival the art hanging [on the walls] beside them“!
