The essay was interesting.I felt that the demise of the reading habit spells the doom of the book rather than the profit of the publisher. I have no idea whether the reading habit is really dying or not. As regards the future of the book itself, the same will yield to an electronic form. With the digitalisation of information; literature of our choice and liking can be accessed from the Internet in much the same way that music can be downloaded to an ipod. The digital book could be a device about the size of a normal paperback with an LCD screen and an internet browser, a touch screen keypad and a "reading software" is all that is needed. With prodigious digital memory at the fingertip one can download an entire library from the net, sharing software will allow anyone to share comments, and actual literature without hindrence. I asked whether this fitted the description of the tablet pc and it seems that this PC is much more than a "book" that I have in mind. If and when such a thing does happen and it may not be too far in the future the future of the book publishing, book distribution and even the book library would have changed forever. But who would inculcate the reading habit if it were lost in the melange' of instant entertainment?
