The first thing one notices about Print Is Dead is that it is, in fact, a stack of bound pieces of paper with words printed on them.  The author, Jeff Gomez, notes the irony of this in his Introduction.  On the other hand, the book is a shabby-looking volume that appears intentionally to violate the etiquette of the book-publishing format.  The author’s picture and byline appear on the inside front cover instead of on the back, and new chapters begin on the left-hand page.  However, the book’s true weaknesses are to be found on the printed pages.

In at least two places in the book, Gomez unintentionally undermines his prophecy.  He writes that,

to see where words are headed, simply follow the evolution of music’s various technological leaps from one format to another: wax cylinder, vinyl, eight track, cassette, compact disc, MiniDisc, MP3.

What Gomez fails to notice is that during the time that these innovations in audio technology have occurred, book production has remained essentially the same.  In fact, if one could bring Thomas Edison, who died in 1931, back to life and show him an iPod, it is doubtful that he would recognize the gadget as a descendant of his phonograph.  But bring Johannes Gutenberg, who died in 1468, back to life, and he would surely recognize a modern book as the product of his own invention.

Gomez invites the reader to consider imaginary conversations with young children and the very old about the contrasting media landscapes over several decades.  Gomez’s theoretical youngster would be amazed both by the absence of cell phones and the internet in the past and by the existence of such outdated items as the rotary phone.  His imagined oldster would tell of communicating by telegram, and of the family gathered round the radio for news and entertainment.  However, both the nine-year-old and the nonagenarian would recognize books from generations past.

Like many other advocates of the digital revolution, Gomez is insufferably smug, but he is also terribly insecure.  At times, he seems to be trying to convince himself, as much as the reader, of the truth of his arguments.  Every few pages, he repeats a litany of the wonders of the digital age: “YouTube, MySpace, role-playing video games, and of course, all of those millions of iPods . . . ”; “blogs, MP3s, RSS, iPods.  MySpace and YouTube . . . ”; “email, social networking websites, blogs, and wikis . . . ”;  “blogs, user-generated content, iPods and MP3s.”

Print Is Dead relies on the example of young people whose lives are almost consumed with technology.  He discusses them in two chapters cleverly titled “Generation Download” and “Generation Upload.”  Gomez has a point to make about the connected habits of the younger generation, although he deals in generalizations instead of hard data.  Apparently, he does not realize the tragic nature of the future he describes.  Gomez notes that

pretty much anyone under the age of thirty qualifies for being accustomed to a “constant stream of digital stimulation.”  Ten years from now this will be true for nearly everyone.  And so to expect future generations to be satisfied with printed books is like expecting the Blackberry users of today to start communicating by writing letters, stuffing envelopes and licking stamps.

All of this is fine with Gomez, yet the fact is that someone who is a recipient of constant digital stimulation can never be digitally satisfied.  Gomez is right that those who become hooked on constant stimulation probably aren’t going to read printed books, but it is difficult to imagine them reading electronic books or engaging in any activity that requires concentration or reflection.  It is also difficult to imagine the people Gomez describes engaging in activities requiring interaction with the natural world and actual living persons.

Print Is Dead is filled with weak and, at times, ludicrous arguments.  At a low point, Jeff Gomez informs us that

a hundred years ago we might have read War and Peace in an effort to see what life is like half a world away.  With the world now joined in an electronic web, anyone curious about life somewhere else on the planet need only spend half an hour online to gain insight into another place.  Graham Greene’s Journey Without Maps becomes increasingly anachronistic in a world where Google Earth has inventoried nearly every backyard on the planet.

Gomez’s comparison of Graham Greene’s account of his travels through Darkest Africa with the amazing satellite images available from Google Earth is telling: It appears that he is unable to imagine any value in reading beyond the most basic gleaning of information.  It becomes easier to see why Gomez is hostile to books when we understand that they all look like ZIP code directories or the Yellow Pages to him.

I am not opposed to technology, nor do I think all of Gomez’s predictions are wrong.  E-books will likely increase in utility and popularity as their price comes down, especially for heavy readers who travel frequently.  However, one doesn’t have to be a Luddite to see the limitations of the appeal of such electronic media—especially given the almost instant obsolescence endemic to nearly every kind of electronic equipment.  (Imagine how unsatisfied those who pay $400 for an Amazon Kindle that holds 200 e-books will feel when version 2.0 sells for half the price and holds twice the text.)

There is another shortcoming to the e-books, computers, and cell phones of which Gomez is so enamored: They are excellent for “multitasking” and following a multitude of hyperlinks, but not for concentrating on any single thing.  For that, pages work better.  Even the youngsters Gomez chronicles understand this.  Millions of them abandoned MySpace and YouTube for a few hours last summer to read Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows printed on paper and bound between boards.  Yet Gomez laments what he sees as J.K. Rowling’s missed opportunity to publish digitally.  He complains that

the reading habits of kids are in serious decline; they’re spending much more time with computers than they do with books.  If we could get them to read the Harry Potter books electronically, it could begin to get them into the habit of merging the reading of text with the use of computers, and would at least be a chance to reverse some very serious trends in terms of youth illiteracy.

This contradicts his claim that people are reading more these days, encouraged by Facebook, text messaging, and other digital phenomena.

The beauty of forecasts such as Jeff Gomez’s is that time will tell whether he is right or wrong.  Here is my prediction: Print Is Dead will soon find its place in the remainder bin.

 

[Print Is Dead: Books in Our Digital Age, by Jeff Gomez (New York: Macmillan) 221 pp., $24.95]