Is the Book Dying?

For years we have been hearing people predicting that the book was dying—on its way out the door. In the future people will read books on the computer or some kind of handheld device like the new Kindle at Amazon (which I do think is neat but way too expensive). I do think those devices will gain in popularity, but at least for the near future the book is alive and well—holding its own.

Over the weekend I read an article in an airline magazine on my way to Fort Lauderdale about a project that Microsoft was involved in. It’s the high school of the future. The library doesn’t have books that you can hold in your hand. Everything is on the computer and all the students have their own laptops. They don’t have textbooks.

For the most part things are going along okay, but the students and teachers are complaining there are no books around. They must research on the Internet. Teachers go home and spends hours adapting work from the Internet to present to their students. They miss not having textbooks to supplement their teaching.

Now I don’t know about you but I can’t sit at the computer all day and especially read on top of that a story on my computer. I think my eyes get tired from the light on the computer. Don’t get me wrong. I love my computer and what it can do, but I also love a good old-fashioned book to hold at the beach. So I’m hoping there is a place for both in the future.

What do you see happening in the next ten or twenty years?