I hope not. Though digital books are convenient, there should always be printed books. We still feel to have paper copy which is more convenient for most of the old timers.

I would bet not. For example, the vinyl records are returning. The technology presents new alternatives and we need not give up what is older. I see no obligations to abandon what is ancient, even the modern look better. And I think people should not feel obliged to adopt what is modern just by being modern.

Dear @Ziad, very interesting; I might be old fashioned one who likes paper books and will always support paper books. On the other hand, the eBooks offer a fast way of reading many several books in different fields while you are sitting down on your laptop and can not be ignored.

I hope, they never will disapear. My most famous paper book is the famous paper edition from Shakespeare edition Schlegel and Tiek 1853. Forget all digital editions.Taste it, smell it, read it, love it!!

I hope not. Though digital books are convenient, there should always be printed books. We still feel to have paper copy which is more convenient for most of the old timers.

Dear Abedallah,

what is fast reading?

I like to spent time to read .

Around 77 percent of college students said they preferred print to e-books in a survey conducted in 2012 by the National Association of College Stores.Although the printed books are for keeps, e-books can be accessed from desktops and read at convenience.

We prefer something when it is convenient, effective and economical, aside from being traditional. e-books are very popular among college and university students for their convenience, efficiency and economic benefits than traditional print books. Just have a single laptop in a pack bug and they have all the text books with them and go wherever they want as long as there is an internet connection. It is true we from traditions have an inertia of staying with what we know for the sheer feeling of what a book and reading a book is, but e-media changes life for better at the moment and will continue to do so for an indefinite future. In fact not only books, but any information processing mechanics as we know : from data storing, information processing and retrieving, e-medias are more effective than traditional ones.

Dear Ziad

There are books that only work on paper. This is the case of books that are called coffee table books. those beautiful tomes, in large format, full of illustrations and very uncomfortable to read in her lap, impossible to take to bed. These are objects that stand out by size, print quality, the views they do. Who wants to see such a book on a tablet?

Human activity increases rapidly life. Currently think and perform much faster when compared to our grandparents. The book is dying, precisely because few can devote to reading for more than 1 hour a day.

I hope that paper books will never cease, but ebooks will grow very much. When, for example, we walked to the subway, we observed that most readers passengers use e-readers.

I like a lot of books, but there are several issues, including the preservation of the environment, where any small gesture helps. Do ebooks help preserve this?

Dear @Hanno, eBooks offer a fast way of reading; so if you are interested in a specific field you have a very fast way of choosing your books. However, there is nothing better than deep reading my friend.

If one looks at all answers to this question, the major theme is "...I hope not but..." Putting emotions aside (the part which sides with "the hope" in all answers), there has not been much justification provided in most answers. While some people (including myself) who used holding the book (not e-book) and flipping the pages (didn't want to say "the old generation") may not like it, any business hardly runs on emotions. And let's face it - we could put provide enough reasoning for keeping it ...alive. It does sound frightening to me.

And guess what, I can predict a time when the tables will turn. It's when instead of seeing long lines of students buying textbooks in a local university bookstore you'd notice students obliged to order e-textbooks. It's not an easy battle with the established (paper) book publishing industry and it won't happen at once. But it's happening already. Notice what's going on with the newspaper industry - the numbers are telling the truth.

Dear Ziad

I would not be surprised if the printed books vanish over time, even as I like printed books far more. The retention is much higher when I read a printed book than an e-book. E-book has the advantage of storage, as they do not need a physical space to store them. But overall, printed books far outweigh e-books.

I think paper books should not vanish. Together with eBooks what have been changed is the process of printing a book. Printing on demand is very common in all publishing houses. As the technology develops printing a book would be more cheep, and everybody can print a book easily. On the other hand eBooks are easy to read, easy to find and have features that the paper book does not. You cannot have a video inserted in a paper book!

I should also note that the conversion of paper to eBook and conversely is easy. The bottom line is that at least libraries should always keep a printed book, even if eBooks have been prevail.

It is unlikely the printed books will vanish. Although I also use both printed and ebooks; my favorite would be books. With the printed books in hands, you can actually 'connect' with them. But, it is not the same when you read the ebooks.

There are so many quotes about books. It's a old saying, 'You can tell a lot about a person from what he reads.'.

In the past when you travel in trains or subways or in a public places such as parks or beaches, when someone happen to read a book, we quickly try to look at the title to see what they are reading. Most of us would have done this. Firstly, we want to see if we have read that book. It also gives an idea that what book we might read next. If we happen to see many people reading a particular book we tend to buy such books. Now-a-days, people use ebooks. No one knows what they are reading. This is the situation. You can't make a conversation with a stranger that you have read and liked the book anymore. Everyone mind their own businesses...There it goes...

Lets hope printed books never vanish.

although I think we should also move on with technology. I carry a kindle that gives me the freedom and convenience of carrying numerous books with me all the time. Read books from the e-reader on my laptop, listen to audiobooks on my phone and mp3 player. Still I also love to buy and read the printed books when I am at my desk and close to my book shelf.

I really don't think print books are going out as a result of digital changes, the greatest threat to books is people not reading them.

I do feel nice among my books. My private library with a about 2000 books is my treasure! I do hope that paper books will never vanish! I do read e-journals but not e-books! I have not used audio-books!

http://churchm.ag/paper-books-vs-ebooks/

Dear Ljubomir,

I share your opinion exactly. Using e-journals, take notice of informations (not read them) professionally, not handling e-books. But take the paper books, skim them forward and back, let the pages run through your fingers.

I love the paper books!

Dear All:

I am thrilled to receive this magnitude of answesr during my 6 hours night sleep!

I share with the majority of you my wish that paper books will never vanish, but who knows what tomorrow hides?

@Ljubomir and @Hanno I share with you the passion of paper books - my library contains about 500 books, and I have not yet developed the interest in reading eBooks even for my courses. Sometimes I go to the Flea Market and try to find books that are over 100 years old - I have a few of them.

This question has been asked many times, once even by myself. All the answers are yes.

E-books will probably reach the climax of their reign pretty soon, and books will either become very expensive, like vintage, or either very cheap, because people are trying to clear out their stores to make room for e-books.

I personally wish that e-books weren't invented. I hate them. Why can't people just go to the bookstore, get a nice, beautifully bound book, read it, and enjoy reading it the old fashioned way, the human way? Why must everything be robots and electronics, and not human? Ugh some people annoy me with this.

I'm guessing books will be around forever.

Take paintings, for example. They've been around since, what, the beginning of time? And they're still being bought and used and MADE right this instant, and probably for forever too! There is still art class in school, and art majors in college...

So books will probably be the same thing, maybe even more, because old fashioned books are in more use than paintings.

@Ziad, thanks that You have remembered me for Flea Market! Very nice, both old and new books, rare books could be found there! Here is my favourite in Paris-Porte de Vanves!

http://www.sweetleisure.com/2012/04/paris-flea-market/

Nice one Ljubomir!

Dear Mehdi:

Unfortunately there is no search engine for questions on RG. So, yes, sometimes questions are asked more than once; however, they might get different audience.

Dear Ziad,

you are right with your critics to the search engine, and I must take care for my answers, not to repeat them or worse, contradict myself.

Thanks Hanno!

I guess paper book should be vanishing when there will be 100% internet and every one have laptop/tab/reading device in world. However I wonder it can happen..But in most metropolitan area it is possible . Also ebook is sustainable over century. The only issue is that how to do underline marking in color with you sketch and have a liberty and quick dipsoal for user paper based is best.

Dear All,

Books are our best friends distributing information, feelings, emotions, joy, literature, art briefly all kinds of human life. Brain workers are man of books. Show your books and I will say who you are!

Books need but a reader and maximum a pair of glasses.

Dear All,

I read e-books but first I print them. I enjoy “tasting” paper!

Dear András,

you forgot the wonderful glass of wine and the silence around you, when you started to read and to relish.

I have been a bibliophile since shortly after birth, and have put great effort into assembling a fairly complete library with books related to the areas I love to study. During the last fifteen or twenty years I have also put together a digital library, especially of PDF facsimile versions of books from the 16th to 19th centuries, which lets me study these books in the comfort of my home rather than travel to other cities or countries with libraries that have rich collections of rare books and manuscripts. It's nice to have both, but using printed books is a more satisfying experience. Working in a good public collection is an important part of the research experience. One can have a first-hand experience with the material, conversing with knowledgable archivists and scholars working on similar lines of inquiry.

I admit that the search function in e-books can be very useful, but with it one misses the serendipity of finding unexpected information -or just getting to know the contents- while searching manually in a printed book. Faster is not always better.

There is another aspect of this topic that deserves more study. There seem to be perceptual and cognitive differences between reading words and looking at images on a printed page and doing the same on a luminous monitor with pixels of light. Many people I know report greater success at spotting errors while proofreading on a printed page. Is this due to the superior resolution of the letters? Is age (i. e. exposure to digital technology at an earlier or later stage in one's life) a significant variable?

History and culture build by manuscript or book.

Thou there will be an ebook and digitalization of manuscript or book artifact. Paper book still be needed.

Especially the one that derive and describe as rare,manuscript or cultural history artifact.

Great nation is the one who learn from the past and envision the future life.

Dear @David, it is really a great work; so, what kind of book does the electronic library contain. Does it contain the old literature and treasure.

Dear Abedallah:

I have been looking at pictorial and alphabetic manuscripts painted and/or written by natives of Mesoamerica in the late pre-Hispanic and early colonial periods. Access to the originals is difficult to obtain, so I usually work with digital, photographic or printed facsimiles. It is also necessary to look at manuscripts and printed material from the 16th century to our own time, including descriptive sources (grammars and vocabularies) on native languages, chronicles by friars, royal officials, and conquistadores, historical texts, etc. All of these categories may be found online in digital formats.

Here is an example of a manuscript prepared by native Nahuatl-speaking scholars, consulting with the elders of their communities, under the guidance of a Franciscan friar in central Mexico during the mid-sixteenth century:

Sahagún, Bernardino de, “General history of the things of New Spain by Fray Bernardino de Sahagún: The Florentine Codex," digital facsimile, in World Digital Library (http://www.wdl.org/en/item/10096/, updated: Nov. 1, 2012; accessed: June 3, 2014).

This one is too large to download and must be consulted online, but the World Digital Library has facsimiles of other Mesoamerican manuscripts (like the Dresden Codex from the pre-Hispanic Maya culture) that can be downloaded in PDF format.

Dear @David, it is an interesting work; it puts under light periods of time that were unknown by most of people and was available only for few people.

Thanks David for sharing with us your wonderful experience with eBooks.

Thanks Abedallah for your alluring question to David pertaining to the nature of eBooks he possesses.

David, me encanto mucho (I loved it tremendously) what you shared. I feel is is a simple "Gest" {a tale of adventure or romance, according to the free dictionary online}.

I agree with my colleagues here, "I believe that books are windows to the minds of the others". What a wonder to read and to enjoy. I have my own library at home with about 2000 books and growing.

No, paper books should remain. Very difficult to read completely an e-book, a paper book can be revisited at any time. Adding to the eye fatigue generated from screens e-book reading, paper books seems to be more convenient.

The ebooks are definitely a great concept for archiving lot more inventories in a systematic and space saving way. Still I believe the printed books will sustain over coming time, may be in a different format as it always evolved from writing on stone, on papyrus, on fabric, on paper.. etc.

When I find anything written interesting I always try to get it in printed format for the ease of reading and concentrating between pages, lines and words. Paper books are more flexible, I can read it anywhere without having any technological support and this alone is a big plus for the printed books to sustain in future.

Dear @Amritlal, I agree with you that paper books are more flexible and to sustain in the future. However, there are huge categories of people who prefer ebooks; this will affect negatively the paper books and might raise the prices.

You are welcome, Ziad. Thank you for your kind words, Abedallah and Hussin. Here is the Dresden Codex, painted by a Maya scribe around the early thirteenth century, three centuries before the Spanish Conquest. A PDF version may be downloaded on this page, although the on-line version has better resolution when you zoom in to look at the details:

http://www.wdl.org/en/item/11621/#q=dresden+codex&qla=en

Dear @David, Thank you very much for the 78 interesting paintings. The resolution is okay except in 2 paintings, I think the originals are not clear.

My dear friends, how would you describe this photo? I love paper books!

Dear Ljubomir,

you are looking into the wrong direction! The books are behind your back.

;.))

The picture looks simular like my own sights at home.

I hope you enjoy the quiet hours with your paper editions.

That is true my dear @Hanno, I do enjoy the quiet hours with my books! :)

Dear @Ljubomir, you have a good choice of beautiful paper books; enjoy it my friend.

Dear Ljubomir and all,

I´ll show you a very small selection of my books. Have a look on it and imagine your quiet hours. Here is shakespeare from 1853.

And some more:

"A book is the only place in which you can examine a fragile thought without breaking it, or explore an explosive idea without fear it will go off in your face. It is one of the few havens remaining where a man’s mind can get both provocation and privacy."

Edward P. Morgan

"A good book on your shelf is a friend that turns its back on you and remains a friend. "

Anonymous

Please all, read them as e-books! I prefer the paper version. You see why?

And this next paper: Have a clear look on it. Please be cautious, its fragile.

Lieber Hanno,

Leider kan ich nur das schoene alte duetsche Schrift sehen und nicht schmecken.

IN ENGLISH:

Unfortunately, I can only see the beautiful old German Scripture, but I can not taste it.

Dear Abedallah: The Dresden Codex suffered damage from humidity when the library in Dresden was hit during the allied bombardment in 1944 and 1945. Bombs are not friendly to books. (:_o (

Image source: http://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Bundesarchiv_Bild_146-1994-041-07,_Dresden,_zerst%C3%B6rtes_Stadtzentrum.jpg

Dear @David, well said: Bombs are not friendly to books neither to anything good.

I partially agree I still enjoy reading my paper books but I find my kids reading more ebooks than paper books. As more text books become availble as ebooks I imagine kids moving farther away from paper books.

@Nasser,

it´s a pity, but your analysis is matching and our future.

@Hanno and @Nasser:

Sadly, this reminds me of H.G. Wells' "The Time Machine" 1960 movie, when the lead actor Rod Taylor was examining the remnants of books in the Eloi's library scene.

Dear Ziad,

whats happening in your photo? I can´t stick it.

Dear Hanno:

Please check the message I have sent to you.

Kind regards,

Ziad

I am afraid that you are right dear Kamal!

I mourn the day I cannot reach out and touch the printed word! I hate reading e anything!

Nice to hear from you Carla and thanks for your sincere comment.

@Carla,

don´t be old fashioned and rigorous. You just had some electronic reading event. Just look at our mails and answers.

;-))

@Hanno, never said I liked reading it on-line! I much prefer the printed word over a computer screen for reading. I have been know to print things out so I can read it in print. ; - ))

The challenge of e-books is actually slow, thanks God, but the smell of books is a continuous joy always.

Dears Hussin and Carla:

I have inherited about a hundred books from my uncle and I have placed them in a nice bookshelf in the living room. Occasionally the smell of these books spreads a small distance in the surrounding as if these books have the ability to breathe. This adds a joy to the moment.

Very true Ziad, actually I own a selection of old books including three bibles dated 1825 and one German book of poetry date 1777. Beside others. So, yes it is joy reading them and caring for them. Time talks.

Dear Hussin,

i´m totally grudging!

Tell me please the titel of the poetry volume!

Specifying the obvious here - there are 130 million-odd separate book TITLES in the world, not physical books, of which there are a few ten billion.

I don't think that physical books will ever vanish - in fact, they're even making a comeback in some quarters (In Australia, a blogger for the influential 'Readings' bookshop has called the Kindle 'the ugliest object ever invented' (see at www.readings.com.au .)

On a more serious note, recent studies have shown that the absolute most important predictor of school performance for kids is whether or not they are growing up in a house full of books - see for instance at

http://chronicle.com/blogs/percolator/want-smart-kids-heres-what-to-do/24200

and

http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2010/05/100520213116.htm

We all want our kids to grow up in such an environment, a kid growing up in a place with a fully stocked eReader in a drawer would grow up cheated.

Dear Hanno, I will need sometime but I will bring the title for you, sure.

I´m looking forward, dear Hussin.

Hanno, still looking. I usually pack my rare books well. So, be back with you.

As we know the bad effect of fast-food, like that the effect of fast information is also to be known within few years. Don't need enough information without quality. only quality information can be found in books.