The Future of the Book

In his book Understanding Me, Marshall McLuhan discusses the possibilities that exist for the future of the book. Many people are mistaken about McLuhan’s stance on the subject, believing that he thinks the book a lost cause, but I don’t think this is so. On page 177 of Understanding Me, McLuhan freely admits that “the future of the book is inconclusive” but he continues by saying that although the average person becomes distracted by mediums with vision and sound, that there is still a place for the book, just not perhaps in the form we think books to be. I totally agree with this. It’s easy to think that technological advances will wipe out the need for books, their purpose dissolved into a chip sized database that can be downloaded into your brain without need for actual reading. But I don’t believe that this is necessarily the accurate portrayal of what could happen. Books and technology do not have to be pitted against one another. Reading and writing can be transformed into a different physicality, but the nuances of their purpose remain. Writing and reading technologies constantly remediate themselves, a semi morphic trend is expected with almost everything now-a-days, so although the structure and presentation of a book may change, the comfort and growth discovered from learning the content of the book will not. Vision and sound can only be taken so far, the book, I think, is the content that is often used to fuel the material for films, songs, tv shows. Books have a place, books have a future, of that I am sure. For instance, the MA class I am taking, Writing for Electronic Communities, although I am learning from some electronic sources, the bulk of my knowledge is coming from reading text books…such as McLuhan’s.