thoughts on e-books

When my son was four he camped out with his dad to get tickets to the first-night showing of Phantom Menace. It was a huge deal. My son had been raised on Star Wars. The 'bad guys' of his young world were "Troopers," he had seen the original movies countless times, and now there was going to be a new one, with Anakin. Not only that, but he got to sleep in a tent surrounded by a whole bunch of other people who were also REALLY EXCITED. It was a party, and parties are fun.

I did not get to camp out with them because our second son was being impatient and wanted to enter the world a little too early, so I was on bed rest (but not serious bed rest--I didn't get to camp out for tickets, but I was still in the theater the next day). It was a bummer for me, but obviously there were going to be more movies, so I would just do it next time, right? No. By the time Attack of the Clones came out, everyone was buying tickets online weeks before opening night. I never got to camp out for Star Wars tickets (and neither did my second son, who might possibly like Star Wars even more than his brother).

Down the street from our house is the Barnes & Noble where I stood in line to get the last three (four?) Harry Potter books at midnight. There's a surreal sense of community, staying up half the night with a bunch of other people who are REALLY EXCITED. It was a party, and parties are fun.

There were also the midnight-release parties at Borders for the Twilight books, and I know there have been others too, that have made a big splash at bookstores when they came out. But how much longer are those parties going to happen if the book can be downloaded onto your reader at 12:00 on the night in question? By 12:01 you can start reading (and I assure you, I never had my hands on Harry Potter by 12:01). If nothing else, everyone is going to stay home for their internet connection.

I'm going to miss the parties, the sense of community, that we're all coming together because this world that a complete stranger has created has affected all of us, more complete strangers. We have been drawn in and are fellow citizens, but the only time we really get to meet the rest of the population is when a new door is presented to us and we all gather to open it together.

That's what the one hand is thinking today about e-books.