by Morgan Carlson

Created on: August 22, 2009   Last Updated: July 13, 2011

In the current age it certainly may seem like books are a thing of the past, but are they? Although it is typical that one form of technology replaces another and forms of media are the same, computers as a constant and reliable form are not entirely where they need to be. In other ways, books are better because they are accommodating and inexpensive. So when in the future, would books be replaced?

By looking at the past it is easy to see that written word has flown from one form of container to another, with the transition from rock walls, to carvings, to parchment, to paper. Now paper seems threatened by electronics, but electronics just like paper have strengths and weaknesses. Paper burns, gets wet, crumbles with age, fades, tears, and much more, yet it can be read when there is no power, in the middle of nowhere, and if stored right, can last for millennia. Computers on the other hand, are weak to heat, need power, gets damaged by water, needs a lot of expensive equipment to operate, breaks too easily, and can be corrupted by viruses, worms, and much more.

Right now, computers cannot replace books. For one reason, books are easily transported and are good in many light conditions, and easy on the eyes. Computers are not extremely mobile, are bad in various lights, are not good for long term reading, and noisy. Books don't make noises. Although with a computer library everything is at your fingertips and there in an instant, all the results from the search are many other things as well, many of which are not needed. But books will be individualized and there when you need just the right one.

In terms of security and reliability, books win out again. In the dawn after the next near-apocalypse, it's safe to say that the great technology of today will be in ruins and all the data we had relied on reduced to nothingness. But in those ruins, one might dig up a book and it may have survived what the hard drives had not, and those pages may provide clues of knowledge that will help us retrace our steps and resurrect the computers once extinguished. In the world most alien to us and other times that may be so desperate, books will have a place where computers will not.

So for the future, will computers replace books, or will books survive to live on? For now it is safe to say books still hold the advantage, but who knows what the next generation of improvements will befall the computer of tomorrow? Perhaps at that time, the books will truly be a thing of the past.

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