E-Readers: Foresight Or The Final Chapter?

I know at least one person who dislikes e-readers, those hand-held Nooks and Kindles that allow people to download and read books electronically. He’s in the printing business, and he sees e-readers as another way to access the printed word without paper and ink. He’d like to gather those cold plastic devices into a pile and strike a torch, kind of a modern-day e-book burning.

If e-readers are a threat to the printing press, why is Barnes & Noble selling them? Its Nook is one of the most popular e-readers available. At the same time, the company in August “posted a steeper than expected quarterly loss,” according to Reuters, “as its sales of physical books continued to decline.” Has B&N bent over backward to embrace digital books only to put itself one step closer to closing?

I have to wonder what this means to the future of “physical” books. Should cities and universities bother expanding their libraries when a data center is all they need? Are kids going to gather their children around the Kindle and e-read them a bedtime story? And what happens to all the incredible illustrations? They don’t transfer well to a six-inch screen.

It’s a fascinating subject. I only wish I’d put it all down on paper.