Bookless library the next big thing

I’m not ready for the death of the book.

Like many, I can’t imagine a world where Kindles line the bookshelf, or the latest title is downloaded rather than carried home from the bookshop.

Apparently I suffer from a sentimental objection to progress. Read this take on the two types of digital dissenters, sparked by the construction of a library-less American school.

Not than any of the objections really matter.

Last month Amazon reported sales of electronic books more than doubled those of print versions of its best-sellers. The market is heating up as Apple wages war with Amazon through the iPad. And from next year The New York Times will publish e-book bestseller lists.

So it seems Luddites and nostalgic types need to join the rest of the book-buying public and embrace a new era of publishing. 

And perhaps even get excited about the possibilities.

Watch this video by design and innovation consultancy IDEO on what the Future of the Book might look like.

Or Jeremy Ettinghausen from Penguin UK on the company’s approach to digital storytelling.

Meantime the boss of Penguin Books John Makinson says “the definition of the book itself is up for grabs” in this presentation about adding value in modern bookselling.