Beautiful, perfect, supreme chunk of paper

End of the book? Peter Crawshaw from Lovereading.co.uk gives his view.
This from the BBC.

Image left - Books do furnish a room Anthony Powell suggested.
Getty Images.

Another electronic book reader has arrived, ready to do battle with its paper cousins. But, writes cultural critic Stephen Bayley, it faces an uphill struggle against a truly beautiful knowledge delivery platform.
What is the most flexible, intelligent, interactive data retrieval system yet to appear?
It's the book.

As a source of high density data storage, the book offers unparalleled ease of access. Data can be retrieved in sequence or at random. Image and text can be presented in any variation of density.
Hand-writing did not replace speech, wood-block print did not replace hand-writing
In addition, books are inexpensive and available in many different formats, colours, shapes, sizes and weights. The book is readily portable and requires no energy or lubricants to maintain. Being modular, it is easy to store.
Oh, and probably lasts forever. If eternity does not appeal to the owner, the book can be easily recycled. No wonder books have been popular for a thousand years or so.
Read the full BBC story online.