My son does not read books.
He listens to them.
I think this is likely true of much of his generation.
During our road trips some time ago we discovered the joy of Cracker Barrel's "Books on CD" program-
You can buy a book at a Cracker Barrel, listen to it; then return it at a Cracker Barrel along your route and get a refund, (minus a buck or so).
Delightful.
But if I am "reading" a book, I prefer the codex.
I find myself frequently saying "uh...waitaminit", and backtracking a few pages to fill in the hole I somehow missed.
That's harder to do when listening instead of reading.
And I prefer paperback to hardbound, because for some reason they seem more "mobile".
I have loved magazines all my life.
My parents subscribed to "Life" magazine and "The Saturday Evening Post". When these magazines arrived I'd hang over the coffee table with the magazine on the floor and read my way through them.
What a fond memory!
When I got old enough to be interested in cars and motorcycles I subscribed to several different mags:
"Car and Driver". "Road and Track". "Motor Trend". "Cycle". "Cycle World". "Cycle Guide".
Yes, overkill.
I saved most of those magazines... they're now stored in an old footlocker in my office.
Some of them MAY have value to someone with a piece of equipment featured in one of 'em...
...eBay, here we come.
Many of these mags no longer exist. Some of them exist with a reduced frequency of publishing.
Some exist only in "digital" form. All of this, to me, is "death by a thousand cuts".
I always keep a magazine or two in the "throne room" to read while I pass the time waiting for something else to pass.
A "digital" magazine IS NOT satisfying under these conditions.
This week I received a hefty copy of "Cycle World" magazine.
Thick. Heavy. On paper that feels good.
And in the front of the mag the editor informs me "this is the last hard copy" of Cycle World. :>(
They're going to digital only.
They'll lose me as a subscriber. I WILL NOT be taking my laptop into the bathroom with me.
I know... change is inevitable.
But that doesn't mean I hafta like it.
02 February 2021
Withering Away
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4 comments:
I don't read so much on my laptop as on my phone.
A friend just lent me Kurt Schlicter's "People's Republic".
First paper book in a while.
But my American Rifleman is a magazine.
Our library every year takes all the magazines they receive and put them out for the patrons to take. Stock up every year on various subjects. It's been years since I last subscribed to any magazines.
Yep, we're dinosaurs and the 'new media' has no desire to continue to provide us with 'real' reading material... There is something special about holding a real book or magazine in your hand. I always liked Hot Rod and Road and Track.
As I told the Bosslady in the early '70s, "My idea of being rich is being able to afford all the magazines I want." Now I can but it's no longer the desire I once knew.
Le Sigh....
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