What is a Book?

For my blog entry for week 2, I would like to focus on a concept I read about in the TIME article, "Reinventing the Book for the Digital Age."

What I liked about this article was how it started off by asking a fundamental question, 'What is a book?'

That, in and of itself, is already a pretty broad and abstract question. You will get a wide variety of answers. The author, Ben Bajarin, sums it up by saying that for many people, they view books as experiences that allow the imagination to powerfully experience a story.

He then goes on to say how an opportunity lies in the advent of the tablet, to let readers continue to have this experience, but it a more full and developed way, which involves even more of your senses. He explains how technology is taking a position in the forefront allowing readers to hear and touch and view media in new ways to create even deeper experiences.

Ben says that probably one of the most effective avenues for these sensory-heavy reading experiences are in textbooks for learning. He claims the learning experience is more rich and powerful, by engaging the mind this way.

I like how he speculates and discusses some of the most popular book series, like Harry Potter and Lord of the Rings, could have used these enhanced learning methods to thread powerful experiences in their stories.

I am interested to see how future book series will use these tools. In my opinion, this seems like something that could easily be taken out-of-hand with a sensory overload that may detract you from the story and message. However, done correctly, I view these tools as something that encourages your own personal imagination and, at the same time, enhances aspects of a story to really hit home and touch the hearts of the readers.

It feels there is a great deal of psychology involved in finding this happy medium. But I, too, am very excited for the future of ebooks and what can be done to enrich our lives and quicken our ability to learn.

Peter Brown