Sunday Book-Thought 10

Much is to be gained by e-books: ease, convenience, portability. But something is definitely lost: tradition, a sensual experience, the comfort of thingy-ness. A little bit of humanity.
Do you know what John Updike used to do, the first thing he would get a copy [sic] of one of his new books from Alfred A. Knopf? He’d smell it. Then he’d run his hand over the rag paper, and the pungent ink, and the deckled edges of the pages. All those years, all those books. He never got tired of it. Now, I am all for the iPad, but trust me – smelling it will get you nowhere.
– Chip Kidd