By H. Lee

April 19, 2010 12:37 PM | Link to this

What a beautiful post from Mike! To me, also, old books are old friends. I love the internet, but I’ll keep my old printed stuff, thanks. There’s also the issue of “real” reality vs. “virtual” reality, as Klinkenborg’s column in the NYT points out. Virtual reality is lively and entertaining and fun, but much like an amusement park. There’s a lot to do, and it’s very easy to play, but not so easy to rest or concentrate. And then there are questions of privacy and censorship. No one can change a book you already have on your shelves, but see Digby’s site today for examples of what can be done with e-books: http://digbysblog.blogspot.com/ By the way, Abby, I don’t mean to be harsh, but having two misspellings within three short sentences doesn’t speak too highly for your preference for online print media.

By Dania

April 18, 2010 6:19 PM | Link to this

I sometimes read here to look at the comments, but I read the paper, too, when I have one. I don’t understand why everything someone disagrees with or simply doesn’t like is deemed ‘negative’ now days. Online is like a little reality show and everyone wants a role (and I do mean ‘little reality’) The lack of moderation on most sites results in some contagious pack mentality and can even increase depression…I know because I’m almost ready to plant this computer in the back yard and see what it grows (maybe a beanstalk)! It’s crazy online, and I “Thank Vick” for having the decency to patrol his post!

By Abby

April 18, 2010 2:04 PM | Link to this

Another negative post by Vick about electronic media on his Internet BLOG. What a hypocrit. I guess its OK for us to read this column online though.

By The Reader (Insider)

April 16, 2010 1:33 PM | Link to this

Books have never been ‘just content’ for me. I think of all the happy adventures browsing used bookstores and the people I’d, by chance, meet there. And I consider where I was and even ‘who’ I was (as odd as it sounds)with the books I’ve read or even given as gifts. The hours of reflecting while perusing the dusty shelves…that process has effectively ‘bookmarked’ my very life and I hesitate to give those habits up (even if I do eventually acquire an iPad)

By Mike

April 16, 2010 1:11 PM | Link to this

My grandmother, who is in her late nineties, is a voracious reader. One treasured picture I have is of her as a little girl, probably nine or ten years of age, sitting in the shade of large tree reading a book. It has always been one of my favorites pictures of her because it just encapsulates everything about her. Several years ago, after my grandfather died, she was getting ready to move into a smaller home closer to her kids. One necessity was to pare down her rather large collection of books, as the new house was quite a bit smaller and there just wasn’t room for them all. While there one day she asked if I wanted a particular box loaded with older books. She said that a lot of these were ones she had read and loved as a young girl, and had kept them; often re-reading them numerous times. After getting home and beginning to unload these books and put them on my own bookshelves, one of them caught my attention. It looked so familiar to me. It suddenly hit me that this was the very book she was holding in that old black and white photo under that massive shade tree decades before in the hills of Kentucky. I held the book in my hand and slowly turned the pages, imagining my grandmother reading this for the first time some eighty years prior. It was an incredibly emotional moment for me. It was as if this book just reached across generations and connected me to that very time and place in that picture. That is why nothing will ever take the place of the printed book. It is about so much more than simply the words that are between the covers of a book. They breathe the life and legacy of all those who have had it in their hands over its lifetime.

By Mark from St Paul

April 15, 2010 6:45 PM | Link to this

Klinkenborg sounds like a man who is content to “own” text by having read and absorbed it. It really is all about the content. I used to collect books and for a while bought and sold them. The one thing I learned was that the best reads rarely came in the nicest bindings, and that the fanciest books often didn’t have content worth reading.

By Insider

April 15, 2010 5:31 PM | Link to this

I like his perspective. You can’t press a little flower in an e-book. And think of all the hand-written gift inscriptions from friends and lovers…sometimes those tell their own stories.