green books
Paper consumption has increased six-fold over the past 50 years and print book publishing remains steady. The climbing curve of paper consumption will probably overshoot the now flattening energy consumption curve (US per capita). Decline of oil supply will probably speed descent of energy consumption increasing cost of paper and its conversion products. Energy conservation choices may well favor screen based connectivity and reading material delivery. Counter indicators, favoring continued print reading in energy expensive context include its single, one time cost for assured storage and access, its life cycle attributes of renewable resource, recycle technology and biodegradability, inertia of academic authorship and various legibility, navigation and authentication attributes. In the mid-term run, discounting different rates of growth as projected from large or small installed bases, both print and screen reading consumption may continue to grow.
post-digital
There is an interesting book, Inside the Neolithic Mind, which explores the capacity of mind to assimilate into daily life constructs of another realm. The thesis of the book is that mental constructs are pre-cursive to revolutions and their cultural manifestations in ritual actually set the stage for emergence of technologies such as agriculture and architecture (not the other way around). This is a useful interpretive approach and it can be applied to the advent of the digital revolution.
In all such conceptualization it is also exciting to realize cycles of return, repeat and resurgence. Permaculture provides a resurgent regard for a modeling of society, agriculture and energy use based on natural ecological systems with a focus on their sustainability. This movement and practice with Neolithic elements is jumping on to the stage of the 21st century planetary apocalypse.
The Permaculture movement can also provide a sidebar for the future of the book. For example, the FotB approach, with its investment in a logic of interdependence of screen and print, is a stealth version of Permaculture. Here we work toward sustainable culture transmission. This forest gardening involves enclaves of format workers and planting of all kinds of natives and hybrids. Here an ecology of vigorous interdependence and complementary productivities is latent. But suburban mono-culturist, techno determinist and proprietary forces are at work as well. Stay tuned.
The Future of the Book seminar is scheduled for August 31 to October 5th (Tuesday evenings). Be there and be square.
three logics
“As a hybrid of traditional books and digital technology, the ereader is ideally suited for the dual purposes of reading and writing.” John Miedema
This is the most generative comment I have ever encountered concerning the future of the book. We can add just one more logic, but these two come before. (1) screen based book reading is optimized by careful device dedication including synthesis of digital connectivity, search, and display with constraints of print (2) a natural interplay of writing and reading on the screen echoes a classical negotiation from manuscript to print, (3) going forward, there is an underlying interdependence between screen and paper.