More on e-books…

Today’s Telegraph has one of the better articles of late on the imminent arrival of the iRex iLiad and the Sony Reader. The only question I have is who do I need to convince here to let me order one for, um, testing purposes. Seriously, though, find me a scholar who wouldn’t see any appeal in having a portable library of hundreds of books?

For the next generation, a library will mean a virtual library, and paper books will seem as quaint as the Ten Commandments chiselled out of stone tablets. The digital seems as sure to eclipse pulped wood and ink as the codex replaced the scroll. The advent of e-ink means the book industry is about to encounter its greatest tempest since Gutenberg, as one technology, viewed suspiciously at first, gives way in a torrent to another. So, which would you choose if you were forced into desert island exile beyond the reach of Amazon or Waterstone’s – a ship full of salt-stained, hide-bound tomes, or the exceptionally portable e-Reader? More important, which will eventually enjoy supremacy? If you are reading this online you will have answered that question already.