The book is dead, long live the book

by Sherman Young. USW Press, 2008.

Sydney academic Sherman Young believes that, as an influence in society the importance of the book has declined almost to the point where it is dead as an object. He chooses to convey this message in a book, so I suppose there’s life in the old format yet, but he makes a strong case all the same. In many ways books have been overtaken by newer formats. Older texts can be found on sites such as Project Gutenberg, and newer books are increasingly available in e-book format. In due course, a sufficiently attractive e-book reader will be on the market, and then we can expect the book to go the way of the vinyl record, becoming little more than a niche market. Young points out that this is not altogether a bad thing. For instance, there is much more likelihood of specialist texts being found by their target audience in an electronic format – no more haphazard ordering from book-shops which can only carry a fraction of the material being published. Young’s argument is persuasive, and spells a worrying message for booksellers, which will have to reinvent themselves, perhaps carrying a smaller range of stock and selling more coffee. But what does it imply for public libraries? Can we carry on buying and shelving books as we have done for the last hundred and fifty years, or do we move into e-books in a bigger way before it’s too late? Should we blog a bit more? Young has an entertaining style, and his book can be digested fairly rapidly. I recommend it to anybody who likes reading; we’re still just about in the majority.

- John

(Update: Sherman Young also has a companion blog for his book)