Books vs. Technology

J.C. asks, "Hello great and powerful Miss Kitty

My dad's wife L. loves "reading" on her kindle. I love books, like the old fashioned analog kind, especially if borrowed from a public library. L. knows that I am suspicious of technology. (For example, I do not have a cell phone because I don't like them enough to own one.) And she knows that I would prefer not to continue destroying our planet's environment. So when she was telling us about her kindle, she mentioned that it could "...save a few trees." I nodded and smiled blankly as I am wont to do when listening to L. Later I thought that it probably takes a lot of non-renewable resources to manufacture a kindle and when its useful life is over, it will be garbage. However, I am not sure about this and I am certainly biased. I even work at a public library for heavens sake!
So my question, Miss Kitty, is this: Which is better for the world: books or a kindle for all?

-JC (not Jesus Christ)

ps. Kitty you are friggin awesome!"

Hi, J.C. Thank you! You are friggin' awesome, too, and I know this because I've met you. On several occasions. And I hope to visit again soon. I'm diggin' the "great and powerful MissKitty" thing. It almost makes me feel like I need to have a giant hologram of my head made so I can blow smoke and shoot flames in front of it, while hiding behind a flimsy curtain off to the side. You know what? If y'all want to picture me answering questions that way, go for it. That would be fun.

Though shooting flames anywhere near books would probably be a bad idea, which brings us around to books versus technology. I have to admit, I'm biased, too. I prefer books. When MTV Cribs toured Moby's place, they were shocked to find that he had books. None of the other places they had featured yet had books. Which instantly gave everyone the impression that he is smart. Which he is. And cute. And talented. But I digress. The point is, having books around makes people think you are smart. Having a Kindle around makes people think you are...um, tech-savvy?

When I go to someone's house for the first time, I love looking at what books and movies they own. I honestly think you can tell a lot about a person by what books and movies they own. These are not necessarily all of the books a person has read in his or her life, but they are the ones that said person thought highly enough of to want to own them, so maybe they can read them again someday. If someone owns a Kindle, you can't browse what books they have downloaded without it looking like a pretty severe invasion of one's privacy. This is books keeping people apart as opposed to books bringing people together - it's hard to start a conversation with, "Oh, I read 'Curious George Goes to the Zoo,' recently myself. How do you think it compares to the rest of the series?" if you don't see a copy of "Curious George Goes to the Zoo" on the bookshelf.

I can see the tree argument. Paper comes from trees, so the more books you print, the more trees you have to cut down. Except, there are billions of books that have already been printed. BILLIONS. One could probably build a very impressive collection of used books that would not involve the death of a single new tree. Not to mention the fact that the recycling industry could probably use a little help, too. Since there has been this whole "recession" thing going on, not as many people are buying things, and the recycling industry has had some trouble, well, recycling. Yes, they continue to collect paper and cardboard and plastic and aluminum, but if nobody is buying the televisions that come in boxes, the recycling industry can't reuse the cardboard they collected to make new boxes. So if we made a slight adjustment to the book publishing industry to include more post-consumer waste content in the new books being printed, we'd not only be saving trees, but saving the recycling industry and our economy as well.

And you're right about Kindles - they contain the same electronic components that our other gadgets contain which require the same manufacturing processes and materials. And I've seen ads now for the 4G Kindle, which means that people who already have one may now chuck it in favor of the newer, fancier one. And when the Kindle dies, sure you can dispose of it responsibly, but you're still disposing of it. Books don't die. The batteries don't crap out on you, and they never need to be recharged. You just have to remember to keep them away from fire and water. Which probably holds true for Kindles, as well.

So yeah, I'm with you on the book thing. They smell better, they feel better to hold, and it is much more effective to throw a book at someone as opposed to throwing a Kindle. Throwing a Kindle does probably more damage to the Kindle than to the target, whereas books can be hurled again and again and they always come back for another read.

Yay books!

Thank you, J.C. for your question (which was slightly modified to protect the innocent)! Keep 'em coming, guys! askmisskittyanything@gmail.com