The Death of the Written Word.

Recording of writings has been with humanity since we have learned to write. We wrote things down to contain what our memories couldn't hold on to. As man has walked through the past thousand years, books have been there, holding our hand. Books contain the voices of the past, the ideas and personal thoughts that have kept a persons legacy alive. An author still lives on as long as there is someone to read his works. Humanity has fought wars over the written word. And today, the end of the book can be seen.
The death of the book has come in the form of tablets such as the iPad, Nook, and Kindle. While technology and progression is not necessarily a bad thing and is a natural part of life, I can't help but feel a bit of grief for the future of the book. Although Nooks and Kindles are still considered new technology, and more of a luxury item than a necessity, the effect on books and bookstores can already be seen. A notable example of this is Borders, a book chain that had been open with many locations across the united states for over 40 years. In an NPR report, the threat electronic books has put on bookstores is mentioned freqently.

Ms. SHERRI HAUBER: I think e-books hurt Borders. You know, on my iPad, I can get a book from Amazon


Mr. JANE FREIDMAN (Electronic Media Professor, University of Cincinnati): It's a big sign of the larger transition we're all making to digital books and digital reading devices. So we're probably going to see a further decline of the bricks and mortar stores, and further movement away from people reading print or paper books, and more people adopting digital reading devices.

GUERRA: Perhaps the most telling piece of news came in April. That's when Amazon announced for the first time since the Kindle was introduced that it was selling more e-books than print books in the U.S. But Freidman says that doesn't necessary spell doom and gloom to the book industry and to book culture in general.

I personally find it a bit depressing. There is an argument to be made that switching to electronic books will leave a smaller footprint on the environment due to less paper consumption, but you won't be able to beat the nostalgic feel opening a real paperback book.