Post #2: What is a Book?

           I believe a book is the words that make up the story. Books are similar to people. A person is not defined (hopefully) by their outer appearance and physical characteristics, but rather their experiences and personality. People like to argue over whether a book is only a book if it's in its physical form. I think we should be more focused on keeping people reading no matter what from it is in. If books becoming digitized is what's going to keep people reading, then I see no problem with it. Tom Piazza says in an interview, "If you like to read your books on an Etch A Sketch, that's fine with me. Especially if you're reading my books." As long as the stories are being read, the author's words survive, and I think that's the most important thing. Some people say that paper books are dying or going extinct. More people are reading books digitally, but I don't see books going away anytime soon. Books are still being produced whether they're available digitally or not. Personally, I like having a physical copy of the book. Nothing about staring at a screen for hours sounds appealing to me. I like flipping to the final page in a book and being able to see physically what I just read and in a way, accomplished. When you finish a book on an e-reader or other device, it's as if the book disappears once you finish it. However, if it's other peoples' preference to read a book from a screen, it doesn't bother me at all. They're still reading the same words and reading the same story. I don't think having a physical copy of a book gives you anymore perspective or insight into the book.

         Books give us an escape we cannot reach through just watching T.V. or a movie. Reading requires you to use your imagination and think about the words on the page. Joe Meno emphasizes this idea saying, "Television, film, and stage plays do not need us; they exist in completion whether we interact with them or not. But a book, a novel, a short story, even a comic book, needs us to complete the action, to see using our mind’s eye, which gets less use the older we get, the farther we step from childhood games of make-believe." When a book is not being read, it ceases to exist. It becomes nothing more than stack of paper and ink. We are the ones who bring a book to life by using our imagination and it is important that we continue to read our entire lives.