By Randall Grantham
Community Columnist
I wrote a while back about the growing irrelevance of the yellow pages, specifically, and phone books in general. Another larger phenomena of our increasingly technological Internet driven wireless world is the demise of books completely.
Now, I don’t think that will actually happen because I don’t think that curling up on the couch or in a hammock with a Kindle or an I-Pad will replace the comfort of doing that with a good book. Although the back lighting of those high-tech widgets would be appreciated at times, the glare on the screen from the sunshine at your island resort would make it hard to read.
I read in the paper that at one local school, history books are history, along with books on all the other subjects. Clearwater High School is going book-free. Although the up-front cost of these e-books would seem to be a concern, officials estimate an overall savings based on the reduced prices for electronic versions of the textbooks the students must now buy.
Plus, they offer magazines, newspapers and on-line access to educational websites. Educational sites only! They’re making the kids promise (good luck with that). The students surveyed say that it makes reading and learning easier and more fun.
The elimination of books is really not too much of a surprise, I guess. The legal profession, long epitomized by huge law libraries full of dusty tomes to be consulted by a wizened old man has pretty much been book free for years. Although I was trained in legal research, literally, “by the book,” attorneys that graduated 10 or even 15 years ago have no idea how to do research without the internet. They wouldn’t know where to begin researching a legal question with books.
When my old law firm split up, I, being the skilled negotiator that I am, hammered out a deal to keep the majority of our library as part of the division of assets. Although we were a small firm, thousands of dollars had been invested in accumulating Florida law books and legal reporters.
When we moved to smaller quarters last month, with no room to store the now useless volumes, I found what a grand bargain I had struck. We could not even give them away, much less sell them. The only thing they were good for was to use as a backdrop for lawyer advertisements. I had to pay somebody to haul the books off. The good news is that they were recycled and can now be put to a good use, but apparently not as schoolbooks.
The worst part of losing the physical book from our society is that we will no longer have reference points for all those sayings we’ve come up with over the years. What do you mean, “The judge threw the book at him?” Since we will no longer be able to do things “by the book,” will we have to do them by the URL? A man’s “little black book” with girls’ names, numbers and stats, has already been replaced by his contacts on a cell phone.
Even without books, some sayings containing the word will retain their meaning, for at least another generation or so. Like, “Book him, Dano.”
We can do without books, but we can’t do without reading. If cutting edge technology in our schools will encourage kids to read, I’m all for it. If it saves money in the process, that’s just gravy on the cake, as the saying goes.