Thing 20: Books 2.0

I'll admit that I, too, suffered anxiety about the Web being the beginning of the end of books. But even as I have realized that nothing will replace the comfort of curling up with a good book, I am also comforted by hearing the same sentiments from others, and by reading articles such as the one in the NYTimes regarding the increase in reading. I also think there is a fairly healthy number of bibliophiles visiting the public library-probably even morein our economy crunch as the usual bookstore prowlers have started taking advantage of the collections available in public libraries for the right price. There is a caveat, however, both in the NYT article and in my personal observations. The article mentioned the increase in reading did not neccesarily refer to good literature in the young adult age group that was polled. And I have noticed a certain polarization in readers of books towards either middle aged to older adults, or younger adults with small children. I think popular reading (like Harry Potter and Twilight, and Oprah's picks) and graphic novels have probably brought former non-readers into the fold, though.

I think Books 2.0 enhances reading- primarily because the focus is on books and reading them. Much of the information is in regard to book recommendations, book reviews, book discussion groups, etc.-i.e. all whetting the appetite to read the book. And many of the sites were smart enough to realize what Amazon had figured out a long time ago; namely, the luring 'siren song' power of displaying beautiful, creative book covers...how can the inveterate browser resist that? It's that same feeling of excitement and anticipation when walking through the doors of any bookstore: "Oh boy, what will find today?"

Overbooked and BookBrowse.com were very interesting and inspiring sites for bibliophiles to prowl. I was intrigued by Librovox (what an ambitious project-recording all those materials), and the concept of Bookswim (it really is like Netflix, only for books instead of movies-wonder how successful it is, and the demographics of who is using it?). And WorldCat in Facebook has a very user-friendly interface, too, by the way. I was a little edgy about the information-sharing warnings in Facebook-I guess I have a few qualms in general about the open- information nature of Facebook, although it is a pretty fascinating network of both people and stuff. Overall, Books 2.0 was a comforting stop for a booklover like myself, careening down fast lane on the internet highway.