I found a bookstore today! This is becoming an increasingly rare occurrence in my neck of the woods. I found some interesting stuff (which I will order as a download), and did purchase one actual, honest to goodness book. What was it? The 2014 Writer’s Market. Why, you might ask, did I select an actual book? After all, just about everything is available electronically.
Well, much as I like the digital age and not having to dust a pile of paperbacks, I find that I need books for working. Why? I still need to flip through them and go back and reference specific pages when there’s a project. I also find that if I have to keep moving them and putting them on a shelf, they are a nuisance. And nuisances have to be dealt with. And if you need to keep referring to a book, this is a good thing to have them constantly in the way.
So, yes, I’m guilty of downloading books at times. But to me, a popcorn read for entertainment (and also to see what’s going on in the fantasy/sci-fi genre), hardly seems to be worth the real space when I can just store it virtually.
Once upon a time, it was believed we would be a paperless society, with everything on computers, but I suspect that is still a long way away. There is something satisfying about holding a piece of paper or an actual book in your hands that I do not believe can ever be duplicated.
