In a Facebook announcement, the book shop owners sited the increasing demands for e-books as the natural cause of death. And yet they did everything right. They diversified. They connected with the community. They advertised. They had stellar author books signings. They sold all the best books in a comfy environment, plus e-books, added Etsy goods, and even ice cream when business stalled.
I admire, and admonish technology, all in the very same breath. Love my cell phone, schmancy computer, my wheels, my flatscreen TV. Yet, still I wonder, where will we go for the simple charms when technology, one by one, removes the tactile things? The ascetic things. The things we can hear, touch, smell... The tick-tick-tick of a projector as a film chugs through. The flipping pages of a book, causing a soft lilt of air to breeze across the face; "...now where was I... ah yes, page 73."
Where will we go?
Musty, crusty, crisply new. I love holding books, touching books, smelling books,...reading books.
Here's to renaissance... Here's to long life.
Books.
