Kindle® 'im Danno

“No, don't set him on fire. Throw the Nook^® at him!”

It just doesn't sound right. And that's for good reason. It's a corruption of all we've ever learned.

But maybe what we learned needs to be changed. Not corrupted, changed. All things change, and language is one of them. It will take a lot of doing, but in this case the process has to begin. It's clear that the electronics industry has made great inroads into the fields of book publishing and distribution. So I'll have to accommodate. There's no going back. I don't yet take my iPad^® to bedⁱ but that will change. You can't stop progress, and you can't start regress – much as you might want to.

I understand. But I don't understand. The generation of people who panic at the idea that electric wires may be on a pole a block away, causing irreparable damage to them and their children by its radiation, doesn't hesitate to put electronic devices next to its members' eyes, ears, and even genitalsⁱⁱ as they all go in search of radiation in the form of the nearest “hot spot.”ⁱⁱⁱ Unless, of course, they're carrying one with them in the form of a transmitter of some sort in their “smart phone” or some other device, like a GPS.

Like all things, however, that fear seems to have changed. Not really changed. It's just been forgotten in the glow^iv of the new technology. The reality is that it's better to accept the benefits of the radiation (especially since there's no evidence that it is harmful) than to try to avoid it, which is impossible anyway.

But the recalcitrant remain among us. And I among them. I'm not Bluetooth^® enabled. It's not that I'm overly concerned about radiation. I'm not. More to the point, though, I do believe that the technology has the potential (if it's not a reality already) for keeping a watch on us, closer than what I'm comfortable with. (It's science fiction now, but soon enough they^v are going to be implanting chips in us at birth, eliminating privacy entirely. They'll rationalize it as being for our protection, but concern for us will not be the motive.)

Not that electronics is all bad. I have a computer at home,^vi one that receives the internet, one that I take with me on an occasional trip – but I don't keep any such device with me at all times. I can live without the telephone and the internet when I'm on the subway or walking along or driving. In fact I like a little peace and quiet most of the time – a period when I'm alone and able to think, not merely react to some pocket device. Greta Garbo was right.

More to the point though, I love books. I don't drink. I don't smoke. I don't gamble.^vii I don't kanoodle.^viii But I buy books, and I even read some of them. It's my one addiction. I have thousands of them. I love the look and feel of a book, not a touch screen. I love to turn the pages of an octavo rather than scroll down.^ix

And there's nothing like visiting a library.^x The older and the bigger the better. To see old, carved wood shelves filled with uncountable volumes is entrancing and illuminating. “Truth is beauty.”^xi I recoil at the knowledge that libraries will be viewed with nostalgia in the not-too-distant future. I may be an old conservative who wants to return to the past, but this “advance” is going too far.

And, sadly, the “progress” in the direction of eliminating books will result in the impoverishment of our language.

Who, in the future, will know the origin of terms like “bookworm” or “bookish?” Who will know what it really means when you “book” a flight, or an act, or a criminal? Will people understand when asked if they keep two sets of books or if they “make” book? And there are numerous other expressions and idioms that will all too soon become incomprehensible.^xii Indeed, who will be able to make sense of “Facebook?”

We may be moving forward, and that may be a good thing,^xiii but parts of the past are worth keeping. Like books. I know I do.

Next episode: “There, I Said It Again” – At the risk of repeating myself ...

 

 

I        Actually, I don't even have one. I live in the past.

ii       The cellular telephone in your pocket.

iii      There's also plenty of radiation at home, including your wi-fi and portable telephone.

iv      Radiation. That glows.

v        Whoever “they” are.

vi      And I certainly wouldn't minimize the value of search engines, among many other tools.

vii      Not even the lottery.

viii    Merriam-Webster spells it with a “c” (http://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/canoodle) but I prefer the “k.”

ix       Though I do admit that the scroll preceded the codex.

x        From the Latin liber, book. Interestingly, it also means “freedom.” To me a pocket electronic device is more akin to “submissiveness,” “obedience,” “restriction,” or “captivity.”

xi       John Keats wrote poetry, but that, too, is “beauty.” As is fiction. There is beauty in the written word and in the works that contain them – especially if you can hold that work (and not a screen image of it) in your hands.

xii     Do children today who have only seen digital clocks really understand the concepts of clockwise and counter-clockwise?

xiii     Especially since it's inevitable.