Book Replacements

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Technology Thursday Amazon recently announced a new large-screen Kindle device. The Kindle is Amazon's electronic book reader. A bit pricey, but clearly an early step along the path to a many fewer physical books in the world. Will it do for books what the iPod and similar mp3 players have done for CDs? That's hard to predict, but it has definitely intrigued many people.

I've been pondering my own book collection and wondering what to do about it for years.

I recently wrote about the major shifts in my thinking that have taken place over time. I've gone from wanting a huge library in my house to donating hundreds of my books to the local library and every few months doing another pass to get rid of even more. I'm nearly to the point of asking why I should keep any particular book as opposed to trying to decide whether I should donate it.

I don't have a Kindle and don't plan to get one any time soon. I rarely have time to read books-no matter the format-these days as it is. But it is an exemplar of yet another way in which technology changes our relationship to the things in our life. If I didn't trust, on some level, that my books would almost always be available to me in some fashion (from the library, on a Kindle, in Google's book repository, etc.) in the future, would I be as comfortable removing them from my house?

And what about children's books? I think it will be a long time before any electronic device could replace board books, touch-and-feel books, and large-format children's hardcovers along with all of the developmental learning opportunities they provide. On the other hand, my son is much more fascinated by the iPodTouch than by his books. He loves his board books, but if he sees an iPod or a phone, he immediately heads toward it. So maybe some future designer will come up with an electronic board book for babies - who knows?