The temperatures are rising and Spring is here. Unfortunately for us, the waning of winter saw the waning of essential bits of technology. This technological hiccup slowed the promised entry of new books and categories to the database, for which we apologise but be assured, they will be appearing very soon along with a plethora of new titles!
While the issues are being resolved we have had the time to muse a little on the future of books and book publishing; paper versus the much vaunted electronic form. There is no doubt that e-books will continue to grow in popularity. Thousands of titles can be held in a single palm sized unit saving space in the travellers luggage and on bookshelves at home. New titles can be downloaded from anywhere on the globe in moments and old titles rediscovered with ease at the readers convenience. Removal of favourite titles by publishers due to space constraints will be gone; the environment will benefit as the book industry becomes virtual and authors will have greater freedom to experiment.
And yet, we wonder. A book, once bought, does not require batteries for it to be used. It does not suffer from compatibility issues over time or when passed to another reader, nor require maintenance such as software upgrades. It does not disappear off the shelf nor its content undergo strange changes due to a virus or other bugs. And while a book doesn’t recover totally from an immersion in the bath, at least all the other books are not affected when it does.
There is no doubt that this is an exciting time for the whole of the book industry and we look forward to presenting the very latest works in whatever format is then current. Yet, while Publishers and Retailers continue to hail the advent of the paperless library, we believe there will always be a place for the handsomely bound book with brilliant prose and beautiful images, and we will always endeavour to find and present them don’t make plans for those bookshelves just yet!
As ever we bid you good reading!
Paul and Loreena