The power of the page

    If you haven't already seen it, I must just point you in the direction of this lovely, eloquent post by Adèle Geras on the beauty, possibility, significance and 'presence' of the book in paper form: The Power of the Page.

Comments

[Adele Geras]

How lovely of you to highlight this! Thank you!

[Cornflower]

Pleasure!

[Mary (across the Pond)]

As I was reading Adele's piece, I found myself thinking about books I read to my children. Of them sitting in my lap with my arms around them, laughing and pointing out the pictures of the fun, the ridiculous, the sad and the silly. All adults now. All great readers. Then I look around my home office with its pile of books, journals and notebooks of every description and size...ah, yes, the power of the page indeed.

Thank you for sharing Adele's post.

[Cornflower]

You're welcome, Mary; it was too good a piece not to mention.

[Dark Puss]

Eloquent indeed but dare I say, in this illustrious company, that I don't completely agree with the premise? In particular I don't agree with the comment about closing books and doing something other activity being in any way (in principle) different from closing an e-book (or pdf or whatever format) and doing something different. In both cases I can do it with deliberate and careful thought or I can jump up and move on leaving the pdf open or the book on the floor. In what way does the delivery medium make a difference here? Good design ( and font choice etc) and the quality of the screen makes a huge difference to how one will react to an electronically delivered book just as it will to a printed book, so I don't buy into that aspect completely, though clearly the physicality of a book cannot be denied. I'm very happy for people to love traditional books far more than electronic versions, I do myself, but I don't think all the arguments made here hold water.

I'm running away now ...