Literate Privilege

Over two billion of the world’s population cannot read. This is such misfortune, but so is the fact that I am sitting here in my warm slippers, with a steaming hot cup of tea and a full belly while millions scavenge for warmth and sustenance.

I make the most of this luxury of being literate and fortunate and read voraciously: Books, blogs, newsletters, magazines, letters, newspapers and journals. I draw information and enjoyment from all mediums.

There is something ‘spiritual’ about disappearing behind two-up saddle stitch*. Your mind buzzes with language, characters and storylines that pulse through the cover in your hands. You can interpret, imagine and release – not a word needs to be spoken - just a gentle chatter upstairs.

Why is our world so intent on eradicating the physical pleasure of reading a paper book? Do we really need to imbue every hobby with technology? Are e-books really the future?

Currently e-books only take up a one per cent share of total book sales in Australia. It’s expensive to purchase e-readers and even then only certain volumes are available through publishers. The independents publishers have limited access to e-books. REDGroup (owns Borders and Angus Robertson) and Amazon currently have the monopoly on e-reader files.

Some say it’s an environmental responsibility to cut the paper chase, others say it’s just another ‘geek-led phenomenon’ where you must have the latest and greatest gadgets. I believe that Kindle, Kobo, IPad and other e-readers are at present unpractical and limited, like the old cumbersome computers. That’s not to say that it won’t evolve into something mainstream over the next 25 years.

Most of the books on my bookshelf are ones I will read again or encourage my friends to read.  I have a history with the books like my Year 10 novel To Kill a Mockingbird or a favourite, Kane and Abel, one of the most tragic stories of mischance. I can’t imagine having the same attachment to an e-book file.

E-books are cheaper on release and much more portable. Rather than having to drag around the Twilight series you can neatly download all 4 books onto your e-reader. However, there is monotony in a coverless book scrolling Times Roman electronically before your eyes. Don’t we spend enough time at our computers already?

E-books are also prone to damage. A chocolate smear or a dog-eared page adds character to a paper book. I love how a book doubles in volume when the sea wind whips up its pages. An e-book is a much more fragile unit and the reading location would have to be appropriate. No beachside reads for sure.

In 2007, Kevin Rudd stated that Australian children in Years 9-12 would have a computer on their desk. He may have been hundreds of thousands short but he started to bring in a digital age in education that we thought at best was optimistic. Music has also morphed from CD’s into gigabytes on MP3’s. Even the humble book is under threat as we try to ‘techno-vive’ them too.

There is always a place in society for technology, but if we can condense a book into a computerised file, what else will be possible? Will we one day stop the ‘creative chatter’ in our reading minds with a ‘direct e-reader feed’ telling us exactly what the author intends for us to think and experience?

Nothing’s impossible. I just know that I will hold on to the joy of reading a paper book for as long as possible – a privilege for the literate.

*Two-up Saddle Stitch – A special layout for books in order for book pages to be printed in corresponding order on both sides of the paper. It is then stitched accordingly.