Ironically, there is a band called "The Books." You may have heard of them. Besides making (in my opinion) beautiful music, in their live shows they combine music with digital media clips to create this sculpture of image and sound. Often the mental and emotional stimulation of one song is comparable to how one may feel after reading a good book... only here is the absence of books, or even the supplement?

I think the resistance to e-readers, or part of the nostalgia we feel for books, has to do with human identity. Just like it may make us uneasy that mixed media music can replace a book, it also makes us uneasy that a computer can replace a person or replace an act that "defines" us. I'll admit, it makes me uncomfortable to think of a world where a kid takes their constant internet stream and e-reader devices for granted. A world where someone aches to fall into a screen of words rather than a page. Yet, as lines of boundaries are challenged, moved, dissolved, or discovered to have never been there in the first place, we are put in the position to redefine or throw out categories we once relied on. Is there a category of "human" if computers can do what humans can do? If animals can?

I think it is okay to never rest confident in a category.