The current paperback - trashy escapism It is Valentine’s Day so here’s a post loosely based around the topics of love and commitment.
My close friend Mike (this isn’t the love bit just in case you are getting nervous already) runs a shop in St. Albans that, amongst many other value-add services, sells/delivers newspapers/magazines to local residents. The other day we had an interesting conversation around the declining volume of newspaper sales and the impact that has on his business.
Now I am a keen consumer of current affairs and visit the BBC News website every day - it is a fact that many of the posts that materialise on this site are in some way linked to the material exposed in that environment. That makes me the kind of person that is contributing to the decline of local newsagents, like Mike, and that isn’t comforting.
That is not the complete story though because I find myself rather conflicted when it comes to consuming lengthier materials on screen or online. Whilst news is acceptable, I remain completely committed to physical books when it comes to reading for entertainment/relaxation/knowledge advancement.
Maybe I am just old fashioned! Then again maybe you have a similar outlook. Read on; find out if this latest post resonates with you. Maybe you could even share your own perspective by posting a comment.
To start; I refuse to consider purchasing a Kindle (other electronic reading devices are available) and I‘ve never downloaded a book to read on my smartphone. This post begins my campaign (a short one because it’s online) to see good old fashioned paper based reading material challenge the relentless growth of electronic media.
As it is Valentine’s Day, I’ll confess that I love reading; I have at least one book on the go all the time and I read for pleasure, for relaxation and for inspiration. For me, part of the satisfaction in reading a book comes from physically turning the pages. I don’t want to read everything on computer screens; I do this all day at work and it sometimes makes my eyes hurt. Getting away from a computer screen is an indication that the working day is done, reprising it with more screen based reading is therefore undesirable.
If I was travelling, living out of a backpack and space/weight was a challenge, it is possible that I could be converted to the Kindle approach to reading but the facts are, I haven’t travelled in this constrained way for about 20 years and even back then, I used to have paperbacks that I’d leave behind or pass on to other people when I was done with them.
Despite my obvious appreciation for much that is retro, I don’t promote the book from a position of nostalgia but rather from the perspectives of engagement, practicality and value for money.
With a book, you can buy them new or second hand; you don’t have to invest in a gadget before you can read it; you don’t have to recharge your book because it runs out of battery life; there’s no operating system on a book to stop being supported; if you lose or damage a book, it’s not an expensive mistake (unlike an electronic device where you lose the gadget and the content on it as well). When you are finished reading you can always send a book to a charity shop and let the shop sell it on and make some money for a good cause (the best kind of recycling). For me, I like passing the books I read on to my Dad, and he does the same for me. That just wouldn’t happen with a Kindle or a smartphone.
And without books, what do you do with bookmarks? A much appreciated and oft collected leather/ette souvenir of places visited and enjoyed (and surely a stalwart income generator for the National Trust); is the lowly bookmark at risk of vanishing from the public consciousness? Let’s hope not.
Mrs Baldwin (and it’s appropriate to mention that I love her too) is a gadget lover, owner of an ipad and an iphone, who tends to disagree with me when I advocate CDs over downloads (to be the subject of a future article) is firmly on my side when it comes to books - she prefers the paper option too. You see the act of stopping, sitting down, picking up a book, interacting with it, and escaping into the text is a complete experience that is actually quite hard for a technology solution to replicate (especially if it is a phone that interrupts you with your emails, texts and Facebook updates).
Books are good, books are not old fashioned and books are better things to buy for your children than apps for their gadgets. When given as gifts, books are often written in by the presenter - they then become part of your personal history. Books are kept and/or shared/recommended to others and bizarrely, in technical terms, that makes them a social media. How much more up to date can you get?
On the subject of date, today is a special occasion; so I ask you this question “when you think of Valentine’s Day expressions of love, what’s better an email or a real, hand written card?” I bet the traditional physical option trumps the new-fangled virtual one every time.
My final thoughts; Mike, maybe you can supplement your lost newspaper income with book sales but I’ve got another idea too – maybe you could set up a book exchange for your local residents to enjoy. You never know that might increase the footfall in your shop and once the locals are over the threshold you’d be bound to sell them something else too – a coffee, some biscuits or a bookmark perhaps!
Love it!
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My close friend Mike (this isn’t the love bit just in case you are getting nervous already) runs a shop in St. Albans that, amongst many other value-add services, sells/delivers newspapers/magazines to local residents. The other day we had an interesting conversation around the declining volume of newspaper sales and the impact that has on his business.
Now I am a keen consumer of current affairs and visit the BBC News website every day - it is a fact that many of the posts that materialise on this site are in some way linked to the material exposed in that environment. That makes me the kind of person that is contributing to the decline of local newsagents, like Mike, and that isn’t comforting.
That is not the complete story though because I find myself rather conflicted when it comes to consuming lengthier materials on screen or online. Whilst news is acceptable, I remain completely committed to physical books when it comes to reading for entertainment/relaxation/knowledge advancement.
Maybe I am just old fashioned! Then again maybe you have a similar outlook. Read on; find out if this latest post resonates with you. Maybe you could even share your own perspective by posting a comment.
To start; I refuse to consider purchasing a Kindle (other electronic reading devices are available) and I‘ve never downloaded a book to read on my smartphone. This post begins my campaign (a short one because it’s online) to see good old fashioned paper based reading material challenge the relentless growth of electronic media.
As it is Valentine’s Day, I’ll confess that I love reading; I have at least one book on the go all the time and I read for pleasure, for relaxation and for inspiration. For me, part of the satisfaction in reading a book comes from physically turning the pages. I don’t want to read everything on computer screens; I do this all day at work and it sometimes makes my eyes hurt. Getting away from a computer screen is an indication that the working day is done, reprising it with more screen based reading is therefore undesirable.
If I was travelling, living out of a backpack and space/weight was a challenge, it is possible that I could be converted to the Kindle approach to reading but the facts are, I haven’t travelled in this constrained way for about 20 years and even back then, I used to have paperbacks that I’d leave behind or pass on to other people when I was done with them.
Despite my obvious appreciation for much that is retro, I don’t promote the book from a position of nostalgia but rather from the perspectives of engagement, practicality and value for money.
With a book, you can buy them new or second hand; you don’t have to invest in a gadget before you can read it; you don’t have to recharge your book because it runs out of battery life; there’s no operating system on a book to stop being supported; if you lose or damage a book, it’s not an expensive mistake (unlike an electronic device where you lose the gadget and the content on it as well). When you are finished reading you can always send a book to a charity shop and let the shop sell it on and make some money for a good cause (the best kind of recycling). For me, I like passing the books I read on to my Dad, and he does the same for me. That just wouldn’t happen with a Kindle or a smartphone.
And without books, what do you do with bookmarks? A much appreciated and oft collected leather/ette souvenir of places visited and enjoyed (and surely a stalwart income generator for the National Trust); is the lowly bookmark at risk of vanishing from the public consciousness? Let’s hope not.
Mrs Baldwin (and it’s appropriate to mention that I love her too) is a gadget lover, owner of an ipad and an iphone, who tends to disagree with me when I advocate CDs over downloads (to be the subject of a future article) is firmly on my side when it comes to books - she prefers the paper option too. You see the act of stopping, sitting down, picking up a book, interacting with it, and escaping into the text is a complete experience that is actually quite hard for a technology solution to replicate (especially if it is a phone that interrupts you with your emails, texts and Facebook updates).
Books are good, books are not old fashioned and books are better things to buy for your children than apps for their gadgets. When given as gifts, books are often written in by the presenter - they then become part of your personal history. Books are kept and/or shared/recommended to others and bizarrely, in technical terms, that makes them a social media. How much more up to date can you get?
On the subject of date, today is a special occasion; so I ask you this question “when you think of Valentine’s Day expressions of love, what’s better an email or a real, hand written card?” I bet the traditional physical option trumps the new-fangled virtual one every time.
My final thoughts; Mike, maybe you can supplement your lost newspaper income with book sales but I’ve got another idea too – maybe you could set up a book exchange for your local residents to enjoy. You never know that might increase the footfall in your shop and once the locals are over the threshold you’d be bound to sell them something else too – a coffee, some biscuits or a bookmark perhaps!
Love it!
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