R.I.P.
He is not arguing that the ideas in books are irrelevant, or the collected wisdom, or the resonant emotions. He is arguing that the book as delivery system that has seen its day.
I get it. Books are expensive and time-consuming to produce. They are an environmental nightmare, made of paper, which comes from trees that are cut down, transported by gas-guzzling log trucks to stinky factories where energy-sucking machinery pulps them into the mush that becomes the pages that, after transport to another stinky factory, go through other energy-sucking machines that stain them with the combination of chemical dye and petroleum-based solvent known as ink. These objects are packed in thick paper boxes and loaded onto trucks that barrel down interstate highways taking the cargo to big warehouses, later to be transported to megastores or, via your internet-placed order, to be placed in the back of a truck that makes a private stop right in your own driveway.
It is difficult, even for a book-lover (not to mention book-writer) like myself to argue in favor of the book-as-delivery-system given all this.
But let me give it a shot.
From a reader’s point of view, the book is a terrifically tidy little package, handy, portable and accessible in practically all conditions at all times. It is user-friendly (no instructions needed!) and ergonomic.