Books

Books take many forms. Print, digital, even videos can be considered “books.”

Systems manuals, design documents, and training guides used to collect dust on office bookshelves — except when the previous person left and someone new was brought in. Value was measured in inches and weight. A 3″ binder was more valuable than a 1″ binder. Updates required change notices. Someone had to make copies.

Those days are gone, mostly. Commercial publishers still create technical books, usually available for download. A printed copy costs extra. Private companies have replaced most printed manuals with electronic versions. A USB drive definitely beats carrying around a bulky, 7 lb. binder, unless what’s really needed is a doorstop.

Books require time, work, and thought. Not something that the ‘instant post’ crowd is interested in doing.

In the technology world, knowledgeable people used to be sought after to produce books. They have been replaced by searchable ‘knowledge bases’ — (frequently long lists of people complaining about not being able to find whatever they were looking for). An editor, a knowledgeable human editor would be oh so useful.

The paperback is very interesting but I find it will never replace the hardcover book – it makes a very poor doorstop.
Alfred Hitchcock (1899 – 1980)