Take a look around the classroom the next time you are in class. Isn't everyone on their laptops? And what do they have next to their laptops? A gigantic casebook. Is there any reason that we can't use our laptops to both take notes and see the relevant book pages simultaneously? This brings me to my question; are e-books the future? It seems like no matter where you look, sales of e-books are soaring, Opera is touting the Kindle, and more and more people are reading things in an electronic format anyways.

For a while, people associated computers and electronic reading with work. However, nowadays, more and more people are using computers in order to read for pleasure, for example, when reading blogs and e-mails from friends. At the same time, physical books are associated with both leisurely reading as well as reading for work.  I think the lines are being blurred more now. So, while I would concede that older people may be more comfortable with physical books, the younger generation is getting more and more comfortable with getting their information as well as entertainment from an electronic medium. In the end of the day, is it the information that we care about, or is it the touch, feel, and maybe even the smell of the medium by which that information is being delivered?
Ask yourself, does a piece of information have a certain smell or feel to it? Do we care whether we get an e-mail on our Blackberries, read it on our laptops, or access it from the computer at school? I am pretty sure that your answer will be a resounding "no." Now ask yourself the same question about the information contained in books. Does your answer change? Why? This is the question that I am trying to figure out for myself.

I am not sure how many people actually remember reading physical letters from their friends and family. That's right, in just a matter of a few short years, e-mail has replaced regular mail. Also, when was the last time you got your news from a physical copy of a newspaper instead of that newspaper's website? This brings me back to the issue of medium versus content. I believe that content is what people inherently want to obtain, and the medium is just the vehicle that gets them there. I don't know about you, but I would take the most comfortable, most efficient vehicle to get me where I need to go and I think the same approach should be taken with information.

Information should be readily available. To that end, distribution of electronic material is more efficient than going through a formal publishing process. By cutting down the cost of publication, more people will have the ability to have their information shared with the world; as such, humanity as a whole will benefit greatly. There are still, however, some issues of access, preference, availability of content, cost, and many others. Don't get me wrong, I'm not saying that we should ban books, or force everyone to switch to e-books. I'm just saying that I see the proper progression to be in the direction of digitization and that eventually, once e-book readers are inexpensive, have the same content as their physical counterparts, and are ubiquitous, people's preferences will change as well.

Just like many people preferred to use typewriters after word processing software was invented, people will persist in using physical books as long as it is the medium that they grew accustomed to throughout their lives. But as the generations who grew up with technology from an early age increasingly adopt e-readers due to their similarity with the technology they are already familiar with, it is inevitable that e-books will be the mainstay of our society. Physical books will become collectible items, with some nostalgic purpose, but will not be the main repository of human knowledge. Human knowledge will be spread across databases of digital books, journals, and other publications, and be much more easily accessible to everyone in the world. However, if you ever miss curling up with a physical book by the fire, you can always print out the PDF of the book to a few hundred bleached sheets of dead wood by sending a signal to your Bluetooth connected printer from your iPhone.