The Fate of Physical Books in a Digital Age

I have this strange irrational fear that physical books will one day be made obsolete by digital media devices. I know that this would most likely never happen, but there has been a definite shift as of late towards more digital forms of print media. E-readers are now more affordable than ever, very portable, can hold infinite titles via cloud storage drives, and are really becoming the norm for a lot of readers. Why does this scare me? I don't know, honestly. I just really think that it places the role of physical books in a very precarious bind. The "inconvenience" of lugging around bound bricks of printed information may just push our on-the-go, on-demand, web-connected-everything society right into the hands of our future literature storage overlords. The thought of future generations living without ever having held a real book or having never turned an actual page seems like a crazy notion that I would rather never see come to fruition. I think this is driving me to hoard books. I am constantly on the lookout for books to "save" from the purgatory of bulk bins or second-hand store shelves. I might be a crazy person, yes, indeed I think I have lost my mind. The only thing that satiates my madness is the smell of aging paper and the feel of well worn book jackets resting in my palms. I turn pages with wild anticipation of what will unfold next and dog-ear pages that contain passages that hold special meaning to me. I return to these dog-eared pages to review their significance and find new meaning in every re-reading of these marked paragraphs. It is a fools errand that I have tasked myself with, leading the charge against digital books. In this futile quest I have assembled an assortment of literature both classic and whimsical, both fiction and non, both crispy fresh and moldy old. It is with great fervor that I will continue to line my walls with archaic examples of how we once shared knowledge. Ink, paper, glue. Physical books. Call me crazy, but backlit pixels will never touch my heart like printed word, and pressing the power button will never have the same feeling as coaxing open the pages of a book. Your digital bookshelves will never have the character of worn wrinkled spines and tattered dust jackets. Gutenberg, you my boy, Blue! I got your back, paper books 4life, son!