Book Ends

I just finished reading “The Noticer,” by Andy Andrews; subtitle “Sometimes All a Person Needs is a Little Perspective.” It took me about three hours to read it, and in spite of liking the content, I was left feeling empty when I finished it.

I didn’t touch the pages, I don’t even know how many there were. The binding didn’t bend, and there was no place to drop in one of my bookmarks. The book does not sit on my shelf to remind me of the joy it brought me. All of Its words were delivered to me electronically without the heft or smell of a physical book.

As a member of the baby–boom generation I was an early adopter of all the personal technology that became available. I had an electronic organizer before I upgraded to a Palm Pilot. I had a Blackberry until it became socially unacceptable. I have a reasonably intelligent phone and a few computers, so it seemed logical to get an electronic reader to complete my collection.

I happily received the Kindle Paperwhite as a gift and I was anxious to try it out. The first book I downloaded on the device was a King James Version of the Bible as a nod to Johannes Gutenberg and his printing press. Three hours wouldn’t get me half way through the Old Testament, so I thought I would try a book I had read a promising review on.    

I willingly admit that the convenience of getting the contents of a book delivered to me almost instantly is impressive and attractive, but I’m not sure I will ever give up physical books for the electronic version.

My children are members of the millennials, the generation that may not be able to remember a time when digital technology did not have such a prominent place in their lives. Today you can watch movies on your cell phone or tablet. The millennials have streaming video on–demand, the generations before them had books they could buy or check out from the library.

Reading books was a common activity when I was young. Movies and television took a back seat. If you missed seeing a movie in the theater you had to wait several months for it to appear on television, and then you had to be in front of the TV when it aired. You could only hope for a quick rerun of the movie if you missed seeing it on TV. There was no recording apparatus and you could not buy or rent movies. It seems almost unreal to be true.

I have a friend, a member of generation X, who bought for her mother, a member of the greatest generation, a book; a special book. It was one her mother had read and reread as a child, checking it out repeatedly from the local library, almost wearing it out. Sixty some years passed, and although she never forgot about the book, she was unable to find a copy anywhere. 

My friend had heard her mother talk about the book over the years, until one day she decided to take up the cause for her mother. With a little help, she was able to find a signed, first edition through an on–line bookseller and gave it to her mother for Mother’s Day. Even though she has read it many times, her mother told me “I read it slowly so I can enjoy it.” My friend had bridged the gap between generations when she noticed a need and offered a different perspective to help her mother.