The Lighter Side of Absolute Zero: What Is It About Books? <link rel="prev" href="http://blog.0kelvin.net/lite/2006/08/the_things_women_will_talk_abo.html" title="The Things Women Will Talk About" /> <link rel="next" href="http://blog.0kelvin.net/lite/2006/08/trite_horror_icons.html" title="Trite Horror Icons" />   <script type="text/javascript" src="http://blog.0kelvin.net/lite/mt-site.js"></script> </head> <body class="layout-one-column" onload="individualArchivesOnLoad(commenter_name)"> <div id="container"> <div id="container-inner" class="pkg"> <div id="banner"> <div id="banner-inner" class="pkg"> <h1 id="banner-header"><a href="http://blog.0kelvin.net/lite/" accesskey="1">The Lighter Side of Absolute Zero</a></h1> <h2 id="banner-description"></h2> </div> </div> <div id="pagebody"> <div id="pagebody-inner" class="pkg"> <div id="alpha"> <div id="alpha-inner" class="pkg"> <p class="content-nav"> <a href="http://blog.0kelvin.net/lite/2006/08/the_things_women_will_talk_abo.html">« The Things Women Will Talk About</a> | <a href="http://blog.0kelvin.net/lite/">Main</a> | <a href="http://blog.0kelvin.net/lite/2006/08/trite_horror_icons.html">Trite Horror Icons »</a> </p> <a id="a000988"></a> <div class="entry" id="entry-988"> <h3 class="entry-header">What Is It About Books?</h3> <div class="entry-meta"><span class="entry-category">{Perplexity}</span> <span class="entry-topics">Topics: <a href="http://blog.0kelvin.net/mt-search.cgi?blog_id=5&tag=Books&limit=20&IncludeBlogs=5" rel="tag">Books</a> </span></div> <div class="entry-content"> <div class="entry-body"> <p> I’m listening to a book (so far it’s good, but I’ll reserve final judgement for when it’s finished) and in this book a couple of rare books come take center stage for a while. The author describes them in a rich tactile way, making you want to reach out and touch, hold, even caress the books. There is still <em>something</em> about books, an actual physical book, that is pleasing. I love to read books, and I’ll have to admit I like collecting them as well. I have quite an alarming number of eBooks in my collection I want to read, but there is still something mysterious, perhaps bordering on the mystical, about handling a physical book. What is it about books? Why do they hold a fascination with me, and why is it more preferable to read out of a soft bound leather book than an eBook with all the annotation, dictionaries, and bookmark support you could think of. What strange sway do books hold over me (and possibly others)? </p> </div> <div id="more" class="entry-more"> </div> </div> <p class="entry-footer"> <span class="post-footers">Posted by Seth Croston Barber on August 24, 2006 11:10 PM</span> <span class="separator">|</span> <a class="permalink" href="http://blog.0kelvin.net/lite/2006/08/what_is_it_about_books.html">Permalink</a> </p> </div> <div class="trackbacks"> <h3 id="trackback" class="trackbacks-header">TrackBack</h3> <div id="trackbacks-info"> <p>TrackBack URL for this entry:<br />http://blog.0kelvin.net/mt-tb.cgi/433</p> </div> <div class="trackbacks-content"> </div> </div> <div id="comments" class="comments"> <div class="comments-content"> </div> <form method="post" action="http://blog.0kelvin.net/mt-comments.cgi" name="comments_form" onsubmit="if (this.bakecookie.checked) rememberMe(this)"> <input type="hidden" name="static" value="1" /> <input type="hidden" name="entry_id" value="988" /> <div class="comments-open" id="comments-open"> <h2 class="comments-open-header">Post a comment</h2> <div class="comments-open-content"> <script type="text/javascript">  </script> <p class="comments-open-moderated"> (If you haven't left a comment here before, you may need to be approved by the site owner before your comment will appear. 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