Burning the Page Quotes

“You don't see people getting pulled over by the police for reading ebooks on their smartphones.”
― Jason Merkoski, Burning the Page: The eBook Revolution and the Future of Reading

“Just as we are what we eat, we are what we read.”
― Jason Merkoski, Burning the Page: The eBook Revolution and the Future of Reading

“Ours is a culture that dances on the edge of ephemerality. If our servers slept for too long or if we left our iPads unplugged for too long, we'd wake up like Rip Van Winkle to find all of our book culture erased.”
― Jason Merkoski, Burning the Page: The eBook Revolution and the Future of Reading

“For good or for bad, we define ourselves in many ways by the gadgets we use and the clothes we wear. We don't want to surround ourselves with cheap products. Nobody really aspires to that. We also don't want to pay for a diamond-encrusted ereader. We don't need bling; we just need to feel like the design speaks to us.”
― Jason Merkoski, Burning the Page: The eBook Revolution and the Future of Reading

“Amazon is winning the ebook revolution, but it may lose the war.”
― Jason Merkoski, Burning the Page: The eBook Revolution and the Future of Reading

“Digital books, like television and other media, are best meant for those Pandoras who've already opened their boxes and know what demons to expect inside.”
― Jason Merkoski, Burning the Page: The eBook Revolution and the Future of Reading

“But ebooks will rule the day, and when people a few years from now talk about 'books', what they'll really be referring to are ebooks, not print books. Eventually the 'e' will be dropped, and books will be assumed to be digital, just as most music is now digital; after all, we don't refer to music as e-music.”
― Jason Merkoski, Burning the Page: The eBook Revolution and the Future of Reading

“You and I both worry about what it means to put our personal libraries onto one gadget and then what would happen if we dropped it in the bathtub...”
― Jason Merkoski, Burning the Page: The eBook Revolution and the Future of Reading

“33 percent of high school graduates who don’t go on to college never read another book for the rest of their lives, and 42 percent of college graduates never read another book for the rest of their lives. Sadly, 80 percent of U.S. families didn’t buy or read any books last year.”
― Jason Merkoski, Burning the Page: The eBook Revolution and the Future of Reading

“The Nook is an under-appreciated genius of a lovemark. The team at Barnes & Noble got a lot right with the Nook, and from a lovemark perspective, I think they created a more intimate product than any other dedicated e-reader. The rubber back behind the Nook is soft and pliable—not hard metal like the later Kindles—making it sensual and intimate. Barnes & Noble also recreated the engraved faces of famous authors from their stores and used them as Nook screensavers. It’s brilliant, not just because it makes reading more intimate, but also because it solidifies the Barnes & Noble brand itself.”
― Jason Merkoski, Burning the Page: The eBook Revolution and the Future of Reading

“Digital books are in some ways hastening the lazy, solipsistic narcissism of our culture. We use our gadgets as proxies for other people and genuine human interaction. And yes, I think that's bad.”
― Jason Merkoski, Burning the Page: The eBook Revolution and the Future of Reading

“Unboxing is a new voyeuristic phenomenon that's erotic and technical at the same time.”
― Jason Merkoski, Burning the Page: The eBook Revolution and the Future of Reading

“Dedicated ereaders are as sharp as steak knives in doing what they're supposed to do, which is let you read books. The iPad is more like a Swiss Army knife -- it can cut the steak and uncork a wine bottle, and there's even a toothpick to use when you're done eating! It's got it all.”
― Jason Merkoski, Burning the Page: The eBook Revolution and the Future of Reading

“Being a digital native may have long-term consequences related to learning how to read.”
― Jason Merkoski, Burning the Page: The eBook Revolution and the Future of Reading

“The Kindle itself is just the tip of the iceberg, and its true workings are invisible.”
― Jason Merkoski, Burning the Page: The eBook Revolution and the Future of Reading

“I was thrilled when my local library finally figured out how to offer ebooks to patrons. That night, I maxed out my library card and downloaded twenty books. The selection might still be small—only a few tens of thousands of ebooks—but I found abundant reading material. I ordered a pizza, stayed in, and read all night long—sheer bliss!”
― Jason Merkoski, Burning the Page: The eBook Revolution and the Future of Reading

“the sooner we can accelerate the adoption of digital books, the better it will be for libraries and the more likely that some of the smaller libraries—often with great regional and local treasures—will survive into the decades ahead.”
― Jason Merkoski, Burning the Page: The eBook Revolution and the Future of Reading

“So let me emphasize the important thing: there’s no cognitive difference in reading a sentence in a print book versus a digital book.”
― Jason Merkoski, Burning the Page: The eBook Revolution and the Future of Reading

“Revolution is what you get when technology and culture collide.”
― Jason Merkoski, Burning the Page: The eBook Revolution and the Future of Reading

“Arthur C. Clarke could have been describing eInk when he said that “any sufficiently advanced technology is indistinguishable from magic.”
― Jason Merkoski, Burning the Page: The eBook Revolution and the Future of Reading

“But ebooks will rule the day, and when people a few years from now talk about “books,” what they’ll really be referring to are ebooks, not print books. Eventually the “e” will be dropped, and books will be assumed to be digital, just as most music is now digital; after all, we don’t refer to music as e-music.”
― Jason Merkoski, Burning the Page: The eBook Revolution and the Future of Reading

“Those of a future generation will one day look back on printed books with the same benign and befuddled expressions that we use when we look at floppy disks or those colossal IBM mainframes with spinning reels of tape that you see in the background of the villain’s lair in James Bond movies. Books are bulky, and an individual book doesn’t hold much data compared to what an e-reader can hold.”
― Jason Merkoski, Burning the Page: The eBook Revolution and the Future of Reading