Ray Bradbury, one of the kings of Science Fiction and a lover of books in print has done something that I never thought he would. Before I tell you what he did (because you probably would never read the story unless I told you about it - I guess I bring the random news, huh?), let me give you a little background. Ray Bradbury wrote a book in 1953 called Fahrenheit 451. The story is very famous and even if you haven't read the book, you might have seen the movie of the same name from 1966.
It's a story about books in print and how the government doesn't want them around any longer. They want people to watch television all day and get the news, entertainment and everything else from government programmed series showing on large screen displays (sound familiar?). However, there are still people in this movie world that care for books and they hoard them and hide them away from the government and the firefighters that are ordered to burn the books on site. And yet, one firefighter falls in love with one of the dissidents and starts to secretly read - oh no! I won't give away the ending because it's much too enjoyable a book/film.
Head to your local library for more information.
So, now that you have some background, it is easier to explain what I discovered today. It was in the news that Ray Bradbury has finally agreed to allow Fahrenheit 451 to become a digital book, basically realizing his own worst nightmares from the very book that is being converted. Think about it. In today's society, where do most people get their information? TELEVISION, the INTERNET - data communication. A lot of people don't buy actual bound books anymore. Look what happened to Borders just a few months ago. Almost every novel that is published now has a digital version of it for those millions of people with e-readers. And yet, the man who discussed the whole thing is slipping to the dark side and becoming part of the system that he wrote about. Ironic.
Maybe, since Bradbury is 91, he finally realized that all that technology isn't so bad and that he was wrong about what he wrote. I can kind of agree with that. But Bradbury has long felt that people need to see and talk with each other face to face in order to really gain the wholeness of interacting with others. These are ideas that I also share and yet, as a lover of technology and programs like Skype, I find that trying to be a traditionalist in the digital age is a lot harder than it looks. Maybe that's what Ray Bradbury finally understood.
Digital versions of a book are not a denial of the original work nor is it a way of throwing the bound book away, it's another way of keeping the book for a lifetime in case there are no more trees to create books. Real books are great, but eventually things like coffee stains happen or young children decide to rip the most climactic scenes from the binding and you're left with heartache trying to find another copy. With the digital version, there's no need to worry. But for me, I still like to have the real thing too.
Until next time.
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