Nisadas

I dropped by at the International Book Fair at the BMICH on Tuesday. So had another couple of thousand people. Which got me to thinking – in this day and age – are books still in fashion?

Why read a book? Rather – why go out and actually pay money for one? After all, we can find loads of books off Project Gutenberg and various other sources. Adobe Acrobat versions of many books are easily available for download off the net.

Most of us have got a TV and/or computer. This gives us many options – cable, VCD, DVD and the internet to name a few – as sources of entertainment. This could be why many people today are said to not read as often. But the strange thing is – many people still do. I’d venture that the stuff they read is off good ol’ paper.

Case in point – the few films that I’ve watched that are based on books I’ve read (or vice versa). Jurassic Park – the film – was groundbreaking stuff in terms of special effects etc etc, but IMHO not anywhere close to being as good as the story in the book. So many people I know would agree – with respect to the differences between the book and the film.

Then there are the books based on the film. Reading Terry Brooks’ novelisation of Star Wars Episode I:The Phantom Menace was a great relief (being something of a fan of the original episodes), not having enjoyed the film at all.

Perhaps it’s because of the way in which the written word can take us from place to place – from the sweeping tableau of the general scenery to right behind the eyes of the characters – their thoughts, their feelings, their inner demons.

I’d doubt there’s anything more personal about such an experience. The glimpses into the thoughts of other people – fictitious or otherwise – certainly broadens one’s perspective. Perhaps the greatest film directors (Coppola?) can push the most talented actors to achieve something close to this effect – but I don’t think it’s ever as effective as the written word.

Given the advances in transferring books online – why would anyone want to regress and read off paper pages when they can read online? You have search functions, annotation features (in most programs) and other fancy things that “hardcopy” books don’t have. Why would Ivap want to print the ebooks he downloaded, to read?

Maybe it’s because you can’t curl up somewhere with a warm mug of [preferred beverage] with your laptop. Or rather, even if you could, you’d rather not. While I’ve enjoyed reading Wodehouse on the PC (via Gutenberg), there’s nothing to compare with reading from a book. The actual feel of the pages, the freedom to sit comfortably without the radiation of a computer screen – I like that.

It seems that until Electronic Paper becomes good enough, good old books will still be in fashion.