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The Decline and Fall of the Book
- pseingatl 13y agoThe author of this article fails to recognize that there are situations where it was necessary to cart around fifty pounds of books. He claims this when this has occurred it is more due to inefficient study habits. Perhaps these situations are outside his experience, but that does not mean they do not exist. I would list them here but there is not enough space in this margin. The point is that tablets have made carrying many books trivial. Going "out of print" today is meaningless and is a relic from a time when there was but one distribution system for books. Print on demand means you no longer need warehouses full of back list titles. The interesting point seen in the demise of the print version of the Britannica is to what extent it has been unable to compete with Wikipedia. Encyclopedias have always been expensive but families felt that they had to have them. They were sold in shopping malls like Rosetta Stone is sold today. But when you need a quick initial reference, Wikipedia is just as good for most searches. The author somehow fails to mention the Wikipedia elephant standing in the corner of the Britannica out of print room.