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I find it interesting that I decided that libraries are unusual in space. I mean, it makes sense since space is all “tech” and such. And I kinda established it in the second series with Pilot, who was a book collector. Anyhow. Just musing.
Oh, and speaking of blast for the past, the Uneyetarians, if you don’t recall:
https://www.baldwinpage.com/spacetrawler/2010/06/21/spacetrawler-51/
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Inside the library, they all talked in low tones. Rodrigo said, “please be quiet in here. It shows respect to those reading.” Picknar looked around and said, “reminds me of those churches the uneyetarians run. What a bunch of nutters.” Looking through the stacks, Rodrigo said, “this place contains a selection of all the printed history of civilization, art, and literature. It’s mostly just the versions written by cis caucasian men, but fortunately that’s shifting.” Picknar asked, “and the ease of having it all on a device in your pocket doesn’t appeal to you?” Rodrigo turned to Picknar and Jo and said, “when making love, is it your goal to just have it fall in your your lap, get it done, and go on with your day?” Jo confessed, “you know, an embarrassingly high percent of the time, yes.” Rodrigo replied, “okay, bad example.”
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Printed books can’t be altered after publication. Digital books can.
Printed books are altered all the time, they just call it the “second edition”, etc.
I meant the physical book. The ink on the paper doesn’t change.
They’re getting rarer here on Earth, too… A few years ago, my local library did a complete teardown and rebuild, saying that they needed to expand. Sounds great, right? And the new building is certainly expansive… but… they proudly said that it would hold 60% of the books the old one did. Not 60% more, mind you. 60%. 40% less. From an “expansion”.
Well, it’s got a lot more computer terminals now, and more meeting rooms. But the bookshelves — clustered in a relatively small area in the middle of the cavernous central room — don’t even reach above my head. What kind of a library is it if you can’t get lost in the stacks? It breaks my heart.
P.S. Don’t get me wrong. The ease of having it all on a device in my pocket does appeal to me. But… I own two Kindles. I’ve loaded thousands of books on them, and only read a handful. Not that print is any better — when I handle a printed book now, somehow, it’s become awkward. I read more than I ever did, but now it’s mostly online articles, blogs, forums, webcomics… I’ve gotten out of the habit of books.
So, that’s a me problem, not a technology issue. But at least it would be nice to have stacks to get lost in.
One of my favorite things is to sit in a comfy chair with a cat on my lap, a good beverage nearby, and a good book. The Kindle books on my phone are great when waiting for a bus, or stopping somewhere for a latte, but I have 8 full bookcases in my apartment and I’m totally fine with that.
THIS. THIS is why I stopped going.
And I bet every one of those books were “bestsellers”: spy thrillers, bodice rippers…
YOU would love my library. 😀
That’s some pretty good draftsmanship in panels 4 and 5, where Picknar and Rodrigo turn from full profile to quarter profile. Lotta guys who call themselves artists wouldn’t even attempt it.
Two sci-fi series in which libraries, and the impact of technological progress upon libraries, play roles:
Foundation by Isaac Asimov.
Uplift Storm by David Brin.
I have both of those series. Yes, have read them, several times over the years.
And being happy with your books is a great thing, regardless of the amount. I have what I have because really good books were coming out faster than I could read them and I read pretty fast.
But the livraries, when I ~could find the book I wanted in a library, there were hundreds ahead of me, then the books were GONE, sold out front door. (Books weren’t sold when I worked there, years ago.)
Oh and the late fees were killing me! Lol
I take the waiting lists as encouragement to check out the rest of the library’s catalog. The instant gratification of search engines and on-demand media have stripped the joy out of browsing the aisles. Impatience is a real problem.
George Lucas made it explicit in his Star Wars series bible that there is NO written text in his universe. Everything’s an electronic display of some sort. Of course, the designation for the number of the bay where the Millennium Falcon is parked is marked on the wall by the entrance, showing how hard it is to get rid of text… but this seems a lonely leftover of a more literate time abandoned because, gosh darn it, books just take too much work and time. Compared to a screen or a projection of some sort.
I have astigmatism, which makes it hard to read on devices. (Making the font larger is ANNOYING.)
And I’ve had floaters for a long while. Books don’t cast light into my eyes like tablets… yeah, I know that has been improved, but it slows down my reading, which is not acceptable.
I have 1000 books (estimated) on my TBR shelves.
My epitaph: Too many books, too little time!
Yay! The Uneyetarians! Glad to see the honorable mention.
Reminds me of that old Lake Woebegone bit, about the Unitarians here on Terra back in the day attempting to connect with the local native groups in Minnesota through the medium of interpretive dance. ????
Former bookseller here. The main advantage of physical bookstores with physical books (and libraries) is that it is easy to browse, and therefore encounter something you weren’t looking for. On digital media, you can search more easily, and the algorithm will recommend books similar to what you liked in the past, but true browsing is challenging.
Few books in space makes sense though. Paper is heavy. Print large enough to read with the naked eye is a hugely inefficient use of storage space. And pushing around lots of extra pounds of mass is bad for the fuel bill.
Way, way cheaper to take the entire library of every book ever written with you on a chip the size of your thumb and ask the local food synth for a physical copy should you happen to want one. Then recycle it when you’re done with it and use the same mass allotment for the next book you want to read.