Introduction

Introduction

A Brief History of Print

The End of Books

Hypertext

What Is The Book?

The Novel Is Dead

This Is Not Science Fiction

Monkeys & Typewriters

In Defense of The E-Book

Conclusion

References

The end of books?

Introduction

When overwhelmed by the number and quality of recent developments in technology, it is perhaps easy to forget that many generations before have seen similar leaps in strides, leaving some feeling disturbed and frightened as what was familiar became threatened by both the new technologies and those that supported them. Indeed, the printed page has had many competitors in the form of radio, film, and television, among others, all of which were proclaimed the successor to the cultural throne occupied by the book. Nonetheless, while definitions of the "book" and, by extension, "literacy", have been augmented to accommodate newer technologies and skills, the book remains among us. Its enduring presence, however, has not quieted debates about its longevity.

Like the technologies that proceeded and succeeded it, print developed out of a particular socio-economic environment which, in turn, informed the culture that embraced it. Without the culture to support it, any technology would fail. The battle between defenders of both print and electronic media, then, concerns not so much whether the book will cease to exist, but, rather, the nature and quality of the cultures that sustain these technologies. By tracing the issues and attitudes surrounded print technology, therefore, I will examine not the question of whether books will survive, but, rather, what it means to imagine a world in which the printed page no longer exists.

Tara Stephens
School of Library and Information Sciences