Is internet making books and book reading redundant? - Page 7

I know several languages to some extent. Everyone here seems to already know how much I work)) And, alas, I don't have time to practice it properly. That's why I use a translator.

Thanks for the recommendation)

Originally posted by: Armu4eva

“What is special about you?”
A random thought crossed my mind.

“I have lived a thousand tales and loved a thousand hearts.
I have seen the most distant and fabulous of places.

All because of books..

-Anonymous

One of my most significant childhood memories remains the bi-annual visit to Kolkata's famed Park Street with my grandfather during school holidays, to buy hardcover books. Books meant to me a whole new world of mystery and magic. This love of books in me was further fostered by my father who bought me Homer's Iliad from the USA on his work trip and kept gifting me new books to read on almost every special occassion.

As i passed through the X and XIIth Boards, while the love for books took a bit of a backseat, it was back roaring in college where i immersed myself in Assimov's science fiction, Nirad Choudhari's Autobiography of an Unknown Indian, William Dalrymple's the White Mughal and Anne Frank's Autobiographical Diary.

However, today as i see my cousins attending schools/colleges, i barely see any of them with a book. I seldom hear them debating about the magical spells of Harry Potter or try to look at India like Pandit Nehru did in Discovery of India.

And when talking of book reading, it is not just fiction but even newspapers and magazines which are all slowly heading towards oblivion.

Now i know Kindle has helped to popularize e-books and digital reading and new age 'cool' authors like Chetan Bhagat, Sudha Murthy, Twinkle Khanna have tried to keep the book reading tempo going, but it begs the question as to whether internet has rang the death knell for books/book reading?

And what about the romance of books? Do we hear stories today of a dried rose kept in between the pages of a book for a beloved? Or of exchanging books with secret notes in them - a phrase/poem dedicated to that special someone.

Today the minute you feel lonely or want something to escape into, you type 'google' and almost all your needs are met in a flash of second. While internet has helped to collate and retrieve a lot of information in a flash of a second, but has it or can it actually ever replace books?

Lets debate...

As books lover, let me tell you. Holding a book, flicking pages, their texture, smell... is like a little piece out of heaven.

Problems for book lovers.

1. Physical books, space for storing. But the experience from physical copies can't be beaten. And if need be you can throw the book at someone.

2. Online books, less space consuming but the feel just isn't there.

E.Audiobooks, having someone else reading it, makes you feel sleepy instead.