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When Johannes Gutenberg invented the printing press, it revolutionized the way printed
words and information could be shared for the entire world to see. However, centuries later, the
method of dispensing words and information that Guttenberg cultivated is no longer the best and
most efficient way to pass information from one person to another and reach the largest
audience. In a world full of web pages, kindles, and e-readers, the future of printed books is very
much in question.
Obviously, printed books of all kinds and all sizes are still around. We still have them in
our homes; they are still handed out to schoolchildren; and bookstores everywhere remain in
business. However, there is no denying that printed books have become increasingly obsolete
.
After all, do we read the books on our bookshelves at home, or do we just admire them every
time we look up from our kindle? Do kids in grade school go searching through the index of a
textbook anymore? Do they click a mouse a few times to get to a web page that can give them
the information they need? Do people really go to bookstores to pick up the latest paperback? Do
they go to bookstores for the free Wi-Fi, international coffee, and moderately priced pastries
while the books in the store go un-purchased? The reason printed media became great when it
first came is the same reason it is now threatened: something better and more efficient for telling
stories and dispensing information has come along
.
The matter is not so much that books will disappear; the matter is that they just will not
be used anymore. Printed books will never be rounded up by the authorities and burned, but they
could continue to be under-utilized in favor of electronic versions of the same books, meaning
that fewer printed versions of books will be purchased, and therefore, fewer will be produced and
. Cope, Bill. The Future of the Book in the Digital Age (Oxford: Chandos, 2006), 49.
. Schmidt, Eric, and Jared Cohen. The New Digital Age: Reshaping the Future of People,
Nations and Business (London: John Murray, 2013), 22.
