Is Imitation is the Sincerest Form of Flattery?
October 12, 2008

I was reminded of how hard e-book manufacturers are working to reproduce the look and feel of print books when last week I received one of the daily e-mails from the various word-a-day sites to which I subscribe. The word that took me there is “skeumorph.” Pronounced “SKYOO-uh-morf,” it is a noun meaning a design feature copied from a similar artifact in another material even when not functionally necessary. The example provided was the click sound one hears on a digital camera when taking a picture. It is not necessary for the camera to work, but it is a sound most of us are used to, one that signals a successful action on a film camera.

In that same way, e-books—the Kindle, Sony Reader, BeBook, CyBook, and so on—are incorporating aspects of reading to which most readers are accustomed: the ability to bookmark, to write marginalia. That’s good because e-books are straddling the line between people who have grown up with books and the younger generation (younger than 20) who are more accustomed to technology’s version of books. In order to sway the still larger number of book readers, they need to replicate the experience by incorporating those as well as the look while adding some valuable elements like increasing or decreasing the font size. For example, Amazon says of its Kindle:

looks and reads like real paper
I don’t know about you but when someone tells me that whatever they are trying to sell me is so wonderfully similar to what I am already using I have to wonder why they would think I would be interested in replacing the original. Hint: I buy technology because it’s better than what I currently have, not because it’s attempting to be the same.

no computer, no cables, no syncing
Neither do my books. And I can read them in the bath knowing if I am unfortunate enough to drop them they will neither (a) electrocute me or (b) cost me several hundred dollars to replace.

wireless connectivity
I already have that, thank you. Always have had.

more than 180,000 books available
Well, okay, on my shelves right now are about 1,200 books which is a drop in the bucket compared to 180,000 that Amazon offers on its reader. But if I include my local library (where the books are free to me) then I beat the Kindle. And if I include my favorite online bookstore, Powell’s, then Amazon is looking like the drop in the bucket.

free book samples
Amazon wins with this. Sort of. I can get the same things if I go to my local bookstore and browse. In fact, I can sample a lot more books there than I can on the Kindle. But I’ll grant you, the convenience factor is not to be ignored.

top U.S. newspapers
How many of these can I read a day? I work, you know. And have a personal life. And run a website. And have loved ones. And . . .

top international newspapers
Ditto.

more than 850 blogs
<groans> I like blogs. There are a lot of good ones out there, far too many in fact for me to even  begin to crack all that I would like and even that’s if I limited them to only bookish ones. Another ditto.

lighter and thinner than a typical paperback
I think this one might be a tie. If they are right, and the Kindle is lighter and thinner, then this particular feature would be good for my bedtime reading because I like to read on my side. Using my thumbs and fingers to hold a book open at an angle and keep the pages apart takes effort. No matter how light it is I find myself flopping from side to side just to give my stiffening fingers a break.
 
holds over 200 titles
Unless I am like my friend Kat—and the last time I checked I wasn’t—I don’t need 200 books at a time. Kat is a fanatical reader. The woman reads more and faster than anyone else I have ever known. When she and her husband vacation for two weeks they take somewhere around two to three dozen books with them. So for her I can see not only the usefulness, but with airlines now charging for luggage, the necessity of an e-book reader. The same goes for Lynn, a publisher I know, and for Janet, a popular literary agent. They can and now do download manuscripts and read them on the treadmill, in the subway and while standing in lines without having to carry an armful of pages. (Imagine having 200 individual pages slip out of your grasp while waiting for the cashier to get to you. Imagine putting them back together without cursing a city to its knees.) But for me, nah. I usually don’t read more than three or four books at any given time. I couldn’t begin to imagine how crazy I’d feel if I had 200 to choose from while sitting at the dentist’s office.

long battery life
Gotcha! No batteries needed with my books. How much greener can you get?

you never have to locate a hot spot
Shouldn’t hot spots be reserved for . . . uh, no, I won’t go there except to say I don’t need hot spots for my books. Unless I want them.

no monthly wireless bills, service plans or commitments
Yippee! I don’t have any of those with my books. I don’t need them. Once they come into my house—unless they are from the library—they stay. And who’s to say that in the future, when the readers’ manufacturers have snared enough people in that they won’t require such plans or commitments. Don’t laugh. Drug dealers often hook new customers with free samples of their wares. Once they are addicted, though, then the price is solid and the dealer unconcerned with his customer’s desperation. You want? You pay.

Now before I sound like a Luddite’s Luddite, I want to emphasize I like technology. I think it has done wonders for business, health and medicine, homes, personal lifestyles. Can I stop the flow of it? Of course not. Would I? No. I believe that people accustomed to reading in any form are better than non-readers and if someone prefers a Kindle or other e-book who am I to say otherwise? But for me I can’t see it. I don’t own a cell phone because I don’t want to be available all the time. I don’t own an iPod because I like silence and because when I want to listen to a book or a carefully selected piece of music my old Walkman works perfectly. When I want to read it’s because I want to sink into a world different than the technology-dominated one I work and play in.

So it really doesn’t matter to me how many skeumorphs are included in e-books. They’re already there in my books, even in the 1823 six-volume collection of Lord Bryon’s writings that sit majestically upon my built-in shelf. The technology of books isn’t new. It’s just wearing new clothes.

Upcoming Book Festivals:
Over the next week (including the upcoming weekend) Rhode Island, Wisconsin, Nebraska, and Virginia will be celebrating the book with their annual festivals.

On Monday, October 13, the Lincoln School in Providence, Rhode Island, will hold its annual Festival of Children’s Books & Authors. Lincoln School hosts this annual event where authors and illustrators talk about their craft and sign books,. It also includes a performance by Bill Harley and bookmaking, other crafts booths and food.

From October 15-19, the Wisconsin Book Festival will take place in Madison. From Wednesday noon to Sunday evening, this festival presents a wide variety of events. Lectures, talks, Conversation Circles (a new series of open forum discussions relating to a themed cluster of festival events), readings, a library book sale, a symposium on the short story, family storytelling, author presentations, book awards, costume reception, and more.

Nebraska takes to the book with its Nebraska Book Festival on October 17-18 in the city of October. Readings and panel presentations, book signings, poet sightings, photo exhibits, round table discussions, writing workshops, an evening reception, a film screening, and other fun activities for children and adults are what one can expect to find at this book festival. Oh, and books too.

On October 18, Waynesboro, Virginia, features its Book ‘Em: Buy a Book and Stop a Crook festival. A unique idea for a book festival, but one that works extremely well! Its purpose is to raise funds for organizations dedicated to increasing literacy  rates, decreasing crime rates, helping police solve crimes, and  raising public awareness of the link between high illiteracy  rates and high crime rates. The Waynesboro Police Department is the primary host for this fair which features dozens of authors in many genres who talk about writing, the publishing industry and other topics of interests, and entertainment for children.

Of Interest:
The Sixth International Conference on the Book, an “inclusive forum for examining the past, current and future role of the book” will be hosted on October 25-27 at the Catholic University of America in Washington, D.C.

It is a trade conference for anyone involved in the world of books: authors, publishers, printers, librarians, IT specialists, book retailers, editors, literacy educators and academic researchers. The conference will also include also include the presentation of papers, and workshops and colloquiums by practitioners, teachers and researchers. Sessions are loosely divided into general topic areas or streams, “approximating perspectives, knowledge-bases, professional practices or discipline.” Each stream will have its own “talking circle” or meetings of minds to help resolve difficulties or points of differences. Cross-fertilization of ideas and networking is encouraged. Registration fees vary depending on the attendee’s status and conference options. This conference rotates all over the world so here is your opportunity to make it to one here.

This Week . . .
Be a winner! The Moleskinerie Fall Giveaways is going strong. If you like their notebooks and diaries, enter now to win one of their goodie baskets. They are picking three winners each week through October 27 for a gold, silver or bronze pack. There’s no entry fee and no strings. Just send your name and mailing address to them and wait to hear if you are one of the lucky ones.

Until next week, read well, read often and read on!

Lauren