LETTITOR

Take a look, it’s in an iBook: the e-reading rainbow

of physical media: I got a Kindle.
Standing stalwart like the last line
of defence against the orcish hordes
at Helms Deep, books, magazines,
and newspapers vainly fought
against my whole-body surrender

isguised in a box that
previously held a pair of
size six ladies runners,

this past holiday season’s bounty
marked the shearing of the final
thread that bound me to the world

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to the digital world. Looking at

my student-budget excuse for a
bookshelf, primarily populated by
epic fantasy tomes and reference
books, it’s a move that’s been a long
time coming: I haven’t bought a
new paperback in over a yeat.

While the switch to a world
penned in e-ink is still alien to
some—you know who you are;
you'll break eventually—when you
sit down and consider how you
consume the rest of your media,
the fact that e-readers and tablet
PCs have taken off in a big way,
largely due to the iPad, shouldn’t
really be much of a surprise. You’ve
been downloading music since
before Napster was a thing; you’re
a swashbuckling digi-deckhand
of The Piratebay; and you don’t
watch TV, you stream Netflix . So,
like the panic attack that follows a
“vegetarian’s” realization that those
aren’t soy-bacon bits they’ve been
liberally sprinkling on everything
for weeks: it was only a matter of
time that books went the way of the
dinosaurs.

In a world where apartment
towers are getting taller, while
square footage continues to get
smaller, traditional media doesn’t
make sense in the suburban way
that it once did. It’s no longer a
choice governed by want, or will,
but need and necessity. I need a
queen-size bed because | starfish
and wrestle shadows in my sleep.

I don’t need five boxes of books
that stay in their boxes every

time I move. I understand that
there’s a chance you were raised

at a Scholastic Book Fair. I also
recognize the irony in my making a
case for going digital in a traditional
print newspaper. If you scoffed or
guffawed at e-readers in the past,
it’s time to recognize that we're in
the tail end of an evolution of print
that’s going to continue with or
without you.

The technology is there (at least
in the case of the Kindle). With 3G
you can purchase books on the go,
sample chapters from the online
store, and even check out books
from a number of virtual “local”
libraries. If you can forgo the new
book smell—I’m sensing a new hit
ait freshener scent—the cheaper
prices of digital books over their
paper counterparts alone should be
a compelling enough argument to
persuade even the most stubborn
lit-lords among us.

Later days,
Cody Klyne

Editor in chief
The Other Press

 

ACROSS
1- A DISH WITH MANY INGREDIENTS; 5- ATTACK A FLY;

9- DISCONCERT; 14- RIPPED; 15- MATA _ ; 16- RATE; 17- SUPPORT
BEAM; 18- EXTEND; 20- FLIRT; 22- BRIT. LEXICON; 23- BOTTOM OF

THE BARREL; 24- MEX. MISS; 26- HEROIC ADVENTURE TALE;
28- TEMERITY; 32- PERTAINING TO THE MIND; 36- BE IN DEBT;

37- PRAYING FIGURE; 39- BRING OUT; 40- MAKES LACE; 42- CLOGS,

E.G.; 44- COMPLACENT; 45- BETELGEUSE'S CONSTELLATION;

47- ANGRY; 49- 401(K) ALTERNATIVE; 50- PAY AS DUE; 52- HAVING

THREE FEET; 54- ISLAMIC CALL TO PRAYER; 56- SPLIT; 57- "THE

CLAN OF THE CAVE BEAR" AUTHOR; 60- CHATTER; 62- RESOUNDS;
66- SEAPLANE; 69- AS TO; 70- CURT; 71- KILN FOR DRYING HOPS;
72- APPROACHED; 73- HANDLE; 74- GUSTO; 75- BREAK, CARD GAME;

DOWN

1- AURICULAR; 2- TIMBER WOLF; 3- OIL-RICH NATION; 4- ATTACK;
5- BREAKS; 6- MOVE FROM SIDE TO SIDE; 7- GOLDEN FLEECE SHIP;

The Other Crossword

Puzzles provided by BestCrosswords.com. Used with permission.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

8- WEARIES; 9- PRINCE VALIANT'S SON; 10- BARREN AREA; 11- END IN
_ (DRAW); 12- DIMENSIONS; 13- MAKES A ROW?; 19- ACCORDING TO
THE BIBLE, HE WAS THE FIRST MAN; 21- CUBE CREATOR RUBIK;

25- JAPANESE BEER BRAND; 27- "FANCY THAT!",; 28- CHOPPER TOPPER;
29- ALERT; 30- TAKE HOLD; 31- NASAL GRUNT; 33- BOMBASTIC;

34- LEGEND MAKER; 35- JURIDICAL; 38- EYE DROPS; 41- MEMBER OF A
LAY SOCIETY; 43- SHORT DAGGER; 46- PINCE- _ ; 48- HEROIC;

51- STURDY WOOL FIBER; 53- MORALS; 55- INFLUENTIAL PERSON;

57- P.M. TIMES; 58- PETER FONDA TITLE ROLE; 59- BRONTE HEROINE;
61- MALE SWINE; 63- SON OF JUDAH; 64- HUMORIST BOMBECK;

65- LEAK SLOWLY; 67- "THE MATRIX" HERO; 68- FAULKNER'S "_ LAY
DYING';