Close the libraries and buy everyone an eReader

Ew. What a nasty, mean little article. He's been drinking too much techno-pop koolaid.

"Every person - not just children - get access to infinite knowledge."

But what about the history of their community's books? The picture books thumbed through by children? Sure, perhaps we'd be better off if everyone read The Casual Vacancy on e-Readers (and many libraries are moving towards systems where demand for popular paperbacks is satisfied by digital) but getting rid of every book? EVERY book?

The value of a book isn't just in the combination of letters. Books are much richer than their raw genotype. There is the feel of the pages, the textures, the heft, the binding, the hundred little details and sense-impressions, from smell, sight, texture, sound, of reading a book - often unique from book to book. To ignore all of these displays is simply ignorant nothing more. This guy just somehow grew up with a completely fucked relationship to books.