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popsci_2013 00856.txt

#Should We Really Be Encouraging People To buy Books? Yesterday Amazon announced the new Matchbook service which offers a deeply discounted Kindle version of a book when you buy a new copy of the physical version. It's something people have been calling for for a while; why not toss in a digital version which is essentially free to create and distribute? And it's not just new books --if you've ever bought a qualifying book from Amazon even all the way back in 1995 when the site launched you can get a digital edition for somewhere between $3 and free. But we got to thinking: this service sounds great for padding out your bookshelves but might it have a more negative effect on the environment? After all won't this encourage people who would normally buy relatively environmentally-friendly digital books to spend a couple extra bucks for a physical copy they don't need even? The move to ebooks in the past few years has been a victory overall for the environment. Printed books are surprisingly awful in this respect; we all sort of assume that that much paper can't be great for the environment but the actual amount of carbon dioxide emissions is shocking. This study from Cleantech estimates that reading three paper books per month for four years--a total of 144 books--will result in 1. 074 metric tons of carbon dioxide emissions. The EPA estimates that regular use of a car results in about 5. 1 metric tons of carbon dioxide emissions per year so using some very tricky math that means that over that same four-year period a car will let loose with 20.4 metric tons of emissions. The books may only be 1/20th of the car but I'd bet that's more than you expected. The least environmentally friendly part of the bookmaking process isn't necessarily the loss of trees. Much of the wood used to make the pulp that's turned into paper is actually byproducts of wood used to make other items--a cobbled-together mush of regular wood woodchips sawdust and other wood detritus. The trees themselves aren't of one type; partly by virtue of paper's origin in castoffs and partly because it doesn't much matter what kind of wood pulp you use paper is made from a mix of softwood and hardwood big trees and small trees all kinds of stuff. Conservatree estimates that it takes about 24 trees to make one ton of non-recycled printing paper --but of course some is recycled usually these days and some is from sustainable sources like bamboo. The real problem with physical books is in creation and transportation. It takes a lot of energy to cut down trees process them into pulp strain them press them heat them print them and bind them and then it takes even more to ship them all over the world. The Kindle on the other hand requires a lot more nasty stuff to get made--mostly mining for materials for the battery and screen and factory emissions from production--but after that's done the environmental cost of each book you read on a Kindle is near zero. Near-zero and not zero because operating the servers that wirelessly deliver the ebooks uses a little bit of energy. Slate estimated back in 2010 that by the time you've read your 23rd book on the Kindle you've gotten yourself equal to the environmental cost of reading physical books--so everything after that is gravy. The environmental cost of disposal is something else entirely but let's leave that alone for now.)Kindle ebooks are now more successful than physical books according to Amazon itself (which never releases specific Kindle sales numbers). Amazon said about a year ago that for every 100 books sold on its site 114 ebooks were sold. That includes books available in print but not digitally and doesn't include free ebooks (books that are old enough to be in the public domain like the Sherlock holmes books are easily and legally found for free.)Book sales are finally recovering from the crash felt in 2008; in 2012 total book sales in the U s. rose 6. 2 percent from the year before. That's modest but the explosion of ebook sales isn't; in that same 2011-2012 period sales of ebooks more than doubled. We're shifting from a culture of print reading to a culture of digital reading. So if more people are buying digital than physical books it's safe to say that the tide is turning and in general our book-reading habits are getting more and more environmentally friendly. Great! But people still like having physical books because they look nice and impressive on bookshelves even if we prefer buying (and possibly reading) digitally. If we assume that there are lots of people who have been buying digitally but would also like a hard copy (which judging by the enthusiasm on Twitter there are) then we can also conclude that Matchbook will also lead to more demand for physical books. A person who usually buys physical books now has a bonus; that person can spend a couple bucks and snag a digital copy which has a minimal environmental impact. This is great news. Book publishing is progressing environmentally (we're making no claims about the feel of a printed book in the hand here. But Amazon's Matchbook service is a step backwards. Someone who usually buys digital books may now opt for the physical+digital bundle meaning that their environmental impact goes way up. The price difference will likely be small. Khaled Hosseini's new book one of the biggest sellers of 2013 sells on Amazon at the time of writing for $14. 87 for the hardcover and $10. 99 for the Kindle version. Assuming that the digital tie-in is expensive at $2. 99 that means that the digital-only package (which from the stats is what most people would buy) is $10. 99 but you can have a nice hardcover tossed in for $6. 88 extra. And that's the most it could possibly cost! Under seven bucks for a hardcover? Sure why not? And for lots of books that could be even less--maybe a couple of dollars maybe nothing at all. It's very enticing which is why Amazon's offering it in the first place. This isn't an outright criticism; this is a nice service from the consumer perspective. I personally prefer reading on my Kindle; it's small and light and the screen lights up and it holds a bazillion books. But I also like quietly boasting about the books I read because I am awful and so I will probably spring for the couple-dollar premium to get the digital/physical bundle. It's a friendly deal in the economic sense; readers get something for cheap publishers and authors and retailers (well Amazon the singular retailer) gets more money. But it could also put a dent in the progress we've made environmentally. The environmental impact is incredibly difficult to calculate. Off hand one very major component has been ignored in this article: The more wood products that are used the more trees that are planted. Companies that supply wood plant more than enough trees to cover very high future growth. It takes so long for trees to mature they really don't have a choice. If something unexpected comes along and causes an increased demand for wood they have to be able to meet that supply or they lose money. They can limit supply if they plant too much simply by not cutting down as fast.)So something like this that could cause an increase in demand for paper could mean a good deal more trees planted. Trees which will pull out CO2 over decades before they are finally cut down themselves. Calculating just how many new trees are planted over what might not have happened without the increased demand would be extremely difficult. Also some of those trees will be cut down sooner than others so who knows how much CO2 they will actually pull out. Etc. etc. While I read online all the time and have moved fairly well into the digital age having an A +and Networking certification and all...I just can't seem to get the hang of reading a novel on a screen. Can't quite put my finger on why that is but it's just somehow much more comforting and soothing to the eye to read from an actual book. And I can immerse myself in the story on paper far more than I can on a screen. And it's not as if I haven't tried it several times. I guess when it comes to curling up with a good book call me old school. Today's magic is tomorrow's technology. I do not care if a person is motivated to read on a water balloon JUST READ! Reading is vitamins for the brain!!!I'm in the same boat as you GGENUA! I also like Starz advice. I definitely believe we should be encouraging people to purchase physical hard copies of all forms of literature. In my opinion it's important to have numerous copies of unmodifiable works of literature spread across the world in different languages. This is important for the preservation of our world culture in a way that can be passed down even without the use of technology. Also it's a lot harder to censor material that is spread across the globe physically then it is to change a few paragraphs of something saved on a server somewhere in the cloud. FYI'cause you don't get out of The City much paper is made from a renewable resource called trees. They plant them and harvest them just like any other crop. And paper is--guess what? --Biodegradable. It's hard to imagine anything more sustainable than the fast growing trees used to make paper. laurenra7 I like those paper backs because they will help society dig itself out of a catastrophic hole when the lights go off. As far as the question goes about whether Paper books still have a place in this world yes they do. If I were to build a Library in my house and then only put a ereader in there that is stocked with 10000 books its highly doubtful anyone would ever be encouraged to go in there and just pick something up and start reading; paper books don't suffer from this issue. Also there is a part of me who believes that our society can't go on forever. It would be a lot easier for people to pick up a Paper book in such a situation and go on vs a ereader which may not be charged working etc..Personally I think books should start being made out of higher quality materials to go along with ereaders. So that for those who choose to can get a Quality book for posterity and those that dont can stick to ereaders. I think the author is looking at this backward. I don't think the people who have been buying ebooks flat out are going to suddenly start buying physical copies. But the people who have been a bit timid about converting their personal libraries to an electronic format but are attached still to physical copies may find that their electronic copies are more convenient to use and less of a hassle to store and use. The last real remaining frontier is going to be people like me-I think ebooks are overpriced. There's absolutely no reason they should be as much or more than their physical counterparts. All of the ebooks I have were either free or ended up being free after an Amazon/Googleplay gift card. When my book crashes it usually bends a page. Hard copies are great for those fearing a large EMP. I suppose too in the future when thy tyrant overlords want to burn books they will just release a secret virus to delete or crash those devices that hold the electronic books. The next time you turn on your device you be like'where my ebook go?!?not know how or why it's gone. Yes governments do love to control the minds of its citizens still in this modern world. My hangup with ebooks comes from 2 related issues: cost and convenience. Cost is a problem with ebooks when you're a person who has a little bit of self control and patience. I don't feel like I have to read a particular book in the first few weeks or months after its release. At that point I can buy a secondhand copy for very cheap borrow a copy from a friend for free or get one at a library for free. I average about 2 books a week or about 100 a year. My annual outlay for purchasing books is about $125-$150. Most ebooks that I read cost between $8 and $13 let's say an average of $10. Although I can get a few of them from a local digital library I'd have to buy about 90%of them. That would run me about $900 a year plus the cost of the reader and the replacement cost anytime I break one or need a new model. Until the day when I can easily and quickly borrow lend or give away or resell an ebook like I can a paper book I will never willingly choose to convert to ebooks. Convenience is also a problem though it may sound like it would be a benefit with ebooks. Sure it is nice to have a bunch of books in one spot. But that's also a curse. If you break or lose your $200 electronic reader you have lost just access to ALL your books until you spend another $200 to buy a new one. And again it goes back to not being able to just hand a copy to a friend to read or reselling it cheaply to someone else who wants to read it but save some coin. Bottom line: When I can do everything with an ebook that I can currently do with my paper books for the same price then MAYBE I'll consider switching. Until then ebooks are just an inferior and limited product with a huge markup as far as I'm concerned. E-papers are here and they are going to replace all printed material. A combination of e-papers and Leap Motion technology will rival even touch screen technology. E-papers run on low voltage battery that can be integrated on the sheet and charged with a built-in solar strip. These e-paper can be massed produced at fraction of the cost any conventional computer screen because they do not get assembled they get stamped like information is stamped on mass produced DVD's. The only problem with this cheap technology is that is going to have the same issues as with free energy there will be no money in it and bureaucrats will do everything to make them expensive so it won't hurt other industry's profits. Free information can fix the world's problems. So can free energy but there are forces out there that won't allow that. So good luck with that. The way I see it Amazon is practically throwing in the electronic edition along with the paper book at a reduced rate. This is a marketing technique to get readers interested in digital reading. I read a lot. I mostly read ebooks. But ebooks aren't tangible. They exist in the ether; on a server somewhere. This is fine for most of the titles I read but what of the classics? What of the works by important American authors like James Baldwin that you want to pass from generation to generation? I'm not going to start choosing paper books over ebooks for my everyday reading anytime soon. But it's nice that Amazon is adding the ebook as a bonus to the purchase of paper editions...even if it is reduced only at price. Really your blog is very interesting...it contains great and unique information. I enjoyed to visiting your blog. It's just amazing...Thanks very much<a href=http://www. cereusgraphics. com/integratedmarketing. html>Integrated Marketing</a>Really your blog is very interesting...it contains great and unique information. I enjoyed to visiting your blog. It's just amazing...Thanks very muchhttp://www. cereusgraphics. co o

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