I love books. I like to pick out a few of the older ones I have from time-to-time just to open the pages and take in the aroma with a deep whiff. The smell of the browning pages is a high for me. Even the unique odor of a glossy comic book is a thrill. I like to flip the pages and listen to the wind and the fluttering of the pages. It’s like someone handing you a deck of cards and not letting you shuffle. It can’t be done.

But, even more than the way in which all of the base senses can be piqued by the influences of the printed book, I long for the information within. Hail the death of the printed book. Now I can carry all of the information from millions of books along with me wherever I go. All of the information from the ten books I needed freshman year can be thrown easily into the space between my laptop and a notebook.

The environmental impact alone is a superlative victory. The average book is around 12oz. (If I wanted to carry around the weight of six books I would prefer it to be in the form of an extra stout.) According to one source of unknown repudibility, each ton of recycled books saves 17 trees. One ton is 32,000 oz; so my six books doesn’t amount to much, but in the grand scale it is quite a bit.

The gist of all of this is that I and a fellow co-worker have joined the Applied Party for Print Library Execution by purchasing our iPads and leading the front on the death march of print. It is amazing and the technology is ripe for replacing books. Now instead of lugging around an extra bag of books or choosing which of my reference materials to use each day. I can take my entire collection. I understand it will be awhile before all of the books are available in an ebook format. And it may take longer still while publishers fight and lose out as they try different DRM schemes at a price to customers. All-in-all, however, this is the way to the future, and it starts now.

Save the wood for coffins — the books will need them.