Where have all the books gone?

Okay, who was it?  Somebody out there sent my wife a Kindle, or was it a Nook--you know, one of those contraptions that is taking books off the shelves and storing them electronically.  Just give me a hammer and I will smash it into pieces!

I had a vision the other night while standing in Barnes and Noble.  The place was transported into the future.  A sign hung on the door:  "antique shop."  People got to come and look at what used to be "books."

Why not?  Everything is being compressed and stored electronically.  So why not books and soon the bookstore will pass into extinction--except for those rare collectors.  It makes perfect sense.  I guess I am just not ready to change.  Oh, I made the jump to computers, memory sticks, cds and dvds--so why not the book?

For me, the book is tangible, a body of truth and experience one embraces--an incarnation, if you want to make something religious about it.  The Hebrews were known as the People of the Book; Episcopalians are people of the Prayer Book.  The People of the Nook--now that does not get it! 

And why not?  Look above at the picture.  Put a nook there instead of the book and see how that feels! 

Nevertheless--I had the vision.  Barnes and Nobel, the antique store, the books of a bygone era.  It makes sense alright.  I just hope I never live to see it!