Archived posting to the Leica Users Group, 2011/02/16
[Author Prev] [Author Next] [Thread Prev] [Thread Next] [Author Index] [Topic Index] [Home] [Search]It's not only the small independent book stores that are closing. Borders, the giant book retailer, just filed for bankruptcy and announced that they will close 200 stores. For those Luggers unfamiliar with the U.S. publishing market, Borders is second only to Barnes and Noble as a retail book outlet. The stores are as big as supermarkets. Blame it all on TV, Amazon, the iPad, the Kindle, the Nook and the general loss of reading interest by the information consuming public. Today I heard an interview with one of the mavens of the digital age who proclaimed that, within a few years, print on paper would disappear as a form of communication and information transmission. This would be a real loss for old timers like me. I seem to be one of the few fully computer literate octogenarians in my community and even I am intimidated by the complexity of current technology. My wife finds the pushbutton telephone a challenge and she is not alone. She has never learned the intricacies of the TV remote control. But she enjoys reading and viewing images on printed pages. And buys dozens of books a year. If books become obsolete what will we do with all the shelf space? Larry Z