Is the book dead?

In the 500+ years since the invention of the printing press, the book has remained a relatively unchanged and unrivaled vehicle for knowledge. Until now.

The era of the book is coming to an end. Digitization makes the physical properties of books disposable; e-book readers and cell phones render them portable and accessible almost everywhere. Google and Amazon could command near monopolistic positions as sellers and dispensers of digital information relatively unfiltered by the traditional caucus of book experts: editors, proof-readers, expert retailers.

This is the moment when books could both spring free of the limitations of production processes that have constrained them for 5 centuries and could also shatter into smithereens, shards of scattered knowledge no longer bound and made meaningful by context, cover and care.

In THE CASE FOR BOOKS, leading expert on books, Robert Darnton, examines this current pivotal point in literary history in a collection of thoughtful essays. What common ground exists between old books and e-books? Will Google Book Search monopolize the printed word? What is the ultimate cost of the loss of the printed book?

“This is a book about books, an unashamed apology for the printed word, past, present, and future,” Darnton explains in the book’s first line. “It is also an argument about the place of books in the digital environment that has now become a fundamental fact of life for millions of human beings.”

A note to reviewers: This copy is not final and changes will be made before the book is printed. If any material from the book is to be quoted in a review, please check it against the final bound book available in October 2009.