"The web will illuminate rather than eliminate books." Kudos to Anthony Grafton for a line that is all at once simple and movingly expressive. Of all the readings last week, this one stood out for me because it really made me think. As someone who sometimes struggles to reconcile her immense love of books with her pro-digital opinions, I was impressed and encouraged by this article because it didn't approach the two as though they are automatically engaged in a gladiator fight to the death. In addition to being a really well crafted and well written piece, I thought it presented a balanced, realistic and positive opinion regarding the latest in Google-gate scandals. Perhaps I enjoyed it so much because like me, the author LOVES books, but I think what really struck me was that he was able to support the digitization of books without any kind of traitorous escape from Camp Book.
I'll admit, my first reaction to the Google Library went something like an old school (think Adam West) comic book word bubble, "Zap! Egads! Ack!" So here goes.....My name is Natalie and I regret to inform you that I was not initially fond of the idea of Google scanning all the books in the world. My knee-jerk reaction was that of many, which was to fear for the loss of the book and therefore hate whatever suggests changing anything. My reaction speaks ironic volumes about both my belief in books and my trust of the internet.
I adore and respect books and often think the world would be a better place if everyone spent more time reading. There is something magic about interacting with a book, when words on a page are powerful enough to transport you to another world. There is an intimacy in being absorbed by a book, when the ideas of another person are capable of conjuring meaning for so many. There is also something about being able to possess a book because it is physically present. You can own a book and it can tell you a lifetime of stories, but you can't own the internet (unless maybe you're Google) and possess the information it provides as your own.
The ying to my fear yang was my suspicion that the internet would indeed eliminate physical books in many people's lives and that we'd end up with too many people who had never experienced reading an actual book, who would then lose touch with an essential part of humanity and we'd then lose a huge part of our cultural identity and civilization would be doomed. The Grafton article extracted me from this burning Orwellian train of thought and made me look at the whole thing from a really different perspective.
I have now stopped secretly wishing the Google Library gets taken down Enron-style by copyright red tape, only to have a spiteful book written about its demise. I just had to go beyond my already conditioned opinions and look at the whole thing objectively, realizing that in fact, I could be one of the first to throw pro-Google Library parties at Camp Book. So here I stand, reformed. Books and the internet aren't against each other and they aren't to be compared. One isn't better than the other, they're just inherently different and provide two distinct experiences with the written word. Ultimately, if it's a book or a computer screen, I should just be really happy that people are reading.
So the moral of this blogging is, enter the digital dimension with the idea of turning differences into strengths and try and understand the ways that books and the internet complement rather compete with one another. I had this really profound line about "illuminating, not eliminating" but then this Anthony Grafton character up and got to it first;)
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