Books

Many a time futurists have claimed that we are getting close a paper-free society. The books will disappear, everything will be read of some sort of computerized display, be it a tablet PC, a portable or something we have never heard of before.

So if this is the future, one should expect to see some movement in that direction. Less books, and more computers. Well, yes, to some extent there is a shift, but even so, HP printers world-wide is printing more than ever before (toner cartridge sales are just increasing).

Now yesterday I did something slightly silly. Or maybe it is not so at all? I ordered a book Handbook of Applied Cryptography, on Amazon.co.uk. Well, nothing wrong about ordering books on Amazon, but doing it when a) the books costed some USD100, and b) I actually have a downloaded copy in PDF published by the authors it becomes slightly crazy.

To explain my decision is quite simple; useability. I use the book frequently. Often when I am writing someting I will have to look up some details in Number Theory, and well, it is the best book on the field. Reading it in print is just so much easier, so much faster, and it does not clutter my Windows desktop.

So for the future: Count the books in!

Posted by ludvig at October 27, 2002 01:32 AM | TrackBack