Class Supplement (Will computers make books unnecessary?)

Consider the following statement. Computers can provide all the information that once could be found only in books, and therefore, it will not be long before electronic technology makes books unnecessary. Do you agree or disagree with this idea?


Essay for Ideas and Expressions:

I do not have the impression that books will soon become antiques that you seldom see in your daily lives, at least in lives of people who read.

Technically, computers and electronic readers can replace books in the near future. In terms of information search, it is usually much more efficient to use computers than it is to go to the library or subscribe to a paper newspaper or two; books that purely provide information such as dictionaries and encyclopedias have almost gone extinct in our daily lives. The screen of Kindle, the electronic reader, is pretty close to the surface of book pages and iPad allows flipping. It might not be long before functions for flipping through, underlining, or writing in are added. Ultimately, the difference will be literally either paper or electric. And I think here is the answer to this question. Paper books will not become totally unnecessary because they exist in the non-virtual world.

First, libraries will keep paper books even though they have been digitizing as many books as possible over decades. Paper books are important resources because of their feature as tangible objects that are ready to be read any time if you just pick them up and open them. Computers need electricity. For fear of blackouts, cyber-terrorism, or accidents that will disable access to or cause damage on digital archive, hard copies will always be kept in libraries and in any archive that preserves important information. Paper books to human knowledge will be what bankbooks are to our accounts. No one would say that bankbooks are unnecessary.

In private libraries, books might gradually disappear but will never be “unnecessary.” Digital books occupy no space and this is attractive for most of us, who do not live in a mansion. Therefore, natural selection, in fact the owner’s selection, of books in our bookshelves which is always at work will be accelerated because more and more cheaper digitalized versions will be available. But I think some books will remain, those books that you have shared some experiences with over years and have become inseparable. They are in the shelf as proof of your life itself. It is hard to imagine readers throwing away their favorite books and downloading kindle books of the same titles. I do not think they will no matter how small apartments they live in. And some of their books will establish the same kind of relationship with the next owners after their death, and this will be repeated until they are worn out and naturally perish. It would take long for all the paper books to disappear this way, and they will just disappear, treasured by someone till the last moment. Therefore, paper books will never become unnecessary.

The substantial presence of books will be necessary in a digitized society. In archives, paper books will be preserved forever as the originals. In our daily lives, good books will always be loved and needed by their owners until someday they are not available in print, and probably some special books such as the Bible, the Koran or Bruce Springsteen’s biography, whose existence is indispensable for many people, will always be in demand.