Despite the rise of e-books, physical books aren’t going anywhere. Graphic designer Chip Kidd shares why their design is so lasting.
Small Thing Big Idea, a TED original series, celebrates the lasting genius of everyday objects so perfectly designed that they changed the world around them. (Made possible with the support of The North Face)
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Books literally will never be outdated..
Wisdom of centuries and even millennia – a smart one learns from mistakes of others
Same experiences by different people. Books are gold.
As long as we can find a way to keep making a book without clear-cutting a forest, the nostalgia just gets to people.
Just buy old books. They smell even better than new ones as well 😉
I think we’re at a good place now. People who want to read a book and then toss if afterwards can now get ebooks. Now when we invest in the hard copy of a book, it’s because we want to keep it forever and display it on our shelves and cherish. So in my opinion, that’s not a waste of trees. Books used to be a waste of trees when mass produced paperbacks were still a big thing, but now ebooks have mostly replaced them 🙂
Books have only a marginal impact on deforestation, if any. The lumber used for paper, furniture, and construction is often farmed like any food crop. The only difference is that trees are not harvested annually. They are planted and harvested in a rotation based on a desired tree age.
If you’re worried about old forests, don’t be. In the US at least, our forest coverage has remained fairly consistent over the last century. We realized a long time ago that we need to plant trees, if we want future trees to harvest and use. This has allowed many forests to be free of harvesting.
The largest threat to forests is farmers and ranchers in third world countries. They’re slashing and burning forests to grow other crops and raise animals.
@Stuart Withers Thanks for your comment, I didn’t know any of that
Books will always be around but I think they will return to being luxury items in the future, as electronic copies will be faster, easier, and cheaper for the masses. The only reason this hasn’t happened yet is because of publisher interference in the pricing of electronic books, by artificially keeping them near the same price as physical prints. Remove that artificial pricing, and I think most people will gravitate towards the much cheaper digital option.
I can definitely see this happening. The only books that i personally have bought are only the one’s that i enjoyed the most. I originally read it electronically but then got them physical just to own them and keep them as a “luxury” item.
In the “developing” world, ebooks are already being exchanged in open source editions like epub. Knowledge won’t be contained.
I just love to hold a book in my arms, to smell it. And I can’t do anything about it
I love books. I love reading fiction. Fiction books heal the soul.
Books are food for soul and mind
I believe that books are a medium that wants to be shared, and given on to others. Once I read a book, how can I keep it to myself?
It makes me sad, seeing books in private libraries, stacking up, never to be read again.
I prefer books for all these reasons, but they’ll eventually go the same way as vinyl records. Also, the oldest known printing press was in China.
Ah yes, I love staring at a dead tree and hallucinating
Roberta Green wtf
Cuz ebooks don’t come from natural resources…
@Beware The Jabberwock, my son! dude it’s sarcasm, I actually love reading books LMAO
There’s just something, enigmatic indeed, about reading a physical book that cannot be replaced for me.
Exactly!!!
@Seraph X2 It may be. Such questions raise and undergo a metamorphosis in my mind, thus the enigmatic quality of such a sentiment.
We will eventually be able to make sustainable paper from something like bamboo that can be harvested, but digital will obviously be much cheaper. However what he didn’t mention is that a library filled with books is one of the most beautiful sights in a person’s home! The colors, arrangement and everything about it is unique and should be seen for what it is … a work of art. As beautiful as any painting. When I had my book shelves made I painted the wall behind it in red, had brown shelves and once I arranged my books on there, I literally couldn’t take my eyes off it!
A book is a genuine friend to it’s reader.
Found this amazing tweet some time ago:
“Ever realized how ***** surreal reading a book actually is? You stare at marked slices of tree for hours on end, hallucinating vividly.”
Could not have said it better myself!
Hahahaha I love it
Editor please chill out on the sound effects and the slow/quick motion. It’s completely unnecessary and very much distracting from the message.
Now that was more like a love letter to all the books for sharing amazing stories with us!
I still remember the feeling of getting new books every new semester/year. Brought a sort of freshness that followed through the rest of my student life..
“The book itself, can not be turned off with a switch”
And the internet/radio/television stations can