How do you foresee the future of the book 50 years from now?

Question

For the past 10 years, people have been questioning the future of the book- actually, even for longer than that.

Now though we can see tat books are trendier than ever - people are reading again, writing again and why? Internet.

So, how do you foresee the future of the book 50 years from now?

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Answer 1

I see books going down. The new trend is to write books like a movie script with an excessive amount of dialog, suspense, and action. Character development and descriptive writing will be reduced to little or nothing. Authors only write what the public want to read. Its partly today's perverse appitietes that are causing the shortage of good literature. Books 50 years from now would be closer to scripts for movies than anything else.  

Answer 2

Hopefully, the influence of people like Stephenie Meyer and Christopher Paolini will have been reduced to rubble by then and the influence of people like Bram Stroker, James Patterson, Jane Austen, Shakespeare, et cetera, right to J. K. Rowling will still be here.

If that's all true, then the literature world has something to look forward to. A small light at the end of the tunnel, if you will. :)

(Although, if it's not true, then the popular anti-"light at the end of the tunnel" quote will be true - the light'll be a train. Not hope. -le sigh- In which case, I will revert to reading only books as old as I am, if not older.)

Answer 3

What do you mean by the internet making books popular? I was just born into books. I was also born into the internet.

I think that literature will always be important because so many people realize that books take you places that movies and television just can't. The classic paper book may soon be obsolete sooner or later as e-books become more popular, but e-books are still literature.

Good literature will stand the tests of time, and some of it has already. I'll be very curious to see which of the "best books ever" are going to make it into our future as "classics."

So, I think that books will always be around in a sense-- at least, if I have anything to say about it.

Answer 4

I think books will always be around as nothing brings joy like the feel of a good book. I just bought Borges' Selected Non-Fictions in a deluxe edition and just holding it brings a particular kind of pleasure. So long as people hope and dream, books will be a part of that and part of learning about hopes and dreams.  

Answer 5

I think books will always be around, but how much the internet will replace their use will largely be determined by economics. There will always be people who are interested in reading, and those that are not - the ratio between those will not change much.  Howerver, books are an expensive commodity, not just to purchase but also to store safely over long periods of time. In parts of your country (Brazil), for example, humidity is a factor, which is compounded by the fact that adequate housing is unavailable for many people, let alone books.  This problem exists in many parts of the world, so that only a small percentage of the population anywhere can afford to own many books.  By contrast, an inexpensive computer can be shared by many, and the cost of electronic reading devices is bound to come down.  

I am less certain, though,  about what the future will hold in general terms.  If the American public does not wake up to the problem of global warming, and adopt realistic measures  to deal with water shortages, energy needs, etc, etc (a tough call by any standards), but continue to elect public officials who have their heads in the sand,  then I see little hope.  The same goes for countries like China, India, and others - eventually Brazil.  

The distribution of information electronically will also depend on the availability of communication satellites.  If nations continue to fire rockets into space to blow up satellites, the accumulated debris there will make satellites, space ships, and space telescopes impossible.  Thus no more satellite TV, satellite telephone communications, satellite weather, and so forth,  This would also affect the distribution of information and knowledge to more remote areas of the globe.

While computers and other electronic devices compete with books in distributing knowledge, as do forms of entertainment like theatres, the physical presence of books serves a purpose that is hard to replace by computers. More explicitly, by treating books with respect, parents communicate the importance of knowledge and culture to their children, while the absence of books in an affuent home is a strong indication that  such things are little valued there.