For all the hype about e-books and e-readers, along with news coverage about brick-and-mortar bookstores closing, it may come as a surprise that more printed books are still being consumed than e-books. Though a tipping point may soon come, the printed word still reigns.
Despite this trend towards digital, there will always be a place for the printed word. As a justification for this assessment, I cite Star Trek. Yes, I’m using a sci-fi show to predict the future.
While e-readers and the electronic dissemination of information are the norms on Star-Trek—as it is becoming for us—printed books are not absent in the sci-fi future. As I recall, both Kirk and Picard enjoy reading hardcover books.
While this may be largely a nostalgic effort to connect to the past and experience the tactile pleasure of touching what we read, of taking in the sweet smell of paper and ink, it’s a yearning that will not go away—not for future fictional space travelers, the writers behind them, or for us.
To paraphrase Spock, “May books live long and prosper.”
