Guttenberg's nightmare

Guttenberg, when he invented the printing press, wanted to take literature, the written word, out of the hands of the few and put them in the hands of the many. The world is still short of 100% literacy, but apparently it will soon even be short of printed books.
“Never ask for whom the bell tolls/The bell tolls for thee”. These are grim words for people who like bookstores. A few years ago, before there was B. Dalton’s and Waldenbooks, and Borders and Barnes and Noble, there was the Ox-cart bookstore, Park Ave. Books, The Village Green, and others. These little fish were swallowed by the aforementioned mid-sized fish; after that, the mid-level fish were swallowed by the giants of the food chain. Finally, there was only one – Barnes and Noble. But B&N has fallen prey to the internet piranhas of Amazon.
James B. Stewart, in his column from the Wall Street Journal, 8-18-2010, has this to say about the demise of Barnes & Noble:
“The giant bookstore chain, whose superstores once struck fear into the hearts of independent booksellers everywhere, put itself up for sale this month, rendering it the corporate equivalent of the remaindered books it sells at a discount.”
He also writes: “My hunch is that B&N never really embraced the Internet or e-books, tied as it was to the old-fashioned world of physical books and stores.”
Ironically, Stewart compares B&N’s Nook to Amazon’s Kindle, but then adds this little nugget: “Now I'm using Apple's iPad… I like reading on the iPad…”.
For some of us old-fashioned people, there is more to a book than just reading it. There is the physical feel and presence, the tactile romance, of having a book be “…a bird in one’s hand.” Electronics will always be the “…two birds in a bush.” Why? Because e-books require power, electrical power, to work. And they break. They need to be repaired or replaced. Real books only need to be seen. You can’t read them in the dark, but that’s why, in case of power outages, we have candles, society, or sleep to see us through to the next day.
There is a reason why some of the most expensive wines are un-drank, un-tasted, and that grow more valuable as they grow more dusty. Once it is drunk it is gone.
But there is hope. Book burners have never been successful. As long as people can read, there will be books. New books may not be printed, but as long as there are books and people to read them, there will be bookstores. And as long as these pre-conditions are met, there will gathering places for people who like to read, who like to have coffee, who like having conversation.
At least for us old-fashioned people.