Are personally-owned hard-bound books obsolete?

Like the telephone we once held in our hands,
will future generations never hold books?

Will books only seen be in museums under glass?

I wonder...

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Update February 2023

Five generations of books and memorabilia now fill a total of twelve (yes, 12) curio, display & bookcases. Swedish death cleaning comes to mind. Or, start an Etsy shop? Hmm...   

 

Update August 2020:

After moving from California to Arizona from, my new home feels bare as my grandparent's and parent's books remain hidden from sight, boxed in the garage, waiting to be rediscovered. 

 

As a collection, they reveal our family's evolution of fiction and non-fiction interests, cookbooks, and the all-important dictionary and set of encyclopedias for each generation—their content demonstrates how information, viewpoint and "facts" evolve and change over time. 

 

My challenge: Determine the fate of this multi-generational home library collection: pass the books on & let the new generation decide their fate, or opt-out now for the much less space demanding digital library? The idea of being free to relocate with ease and not pack, unpack and lug heavy boxes around does not escape me. I'm certain movers and my family would agree. Had I never held a book, carried it around, turned its pages, slept with it close... the decision would be easier, perhaps the act of letting go, a relief...

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The Open Book Muse website is a repository for my musings and book reviews. As my travel explorer self was on hiatus in 2020, this site now includes posts initially published at the AquaSagebrush.com and other websites.

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Share your thoughts on hard-bound traditional home-library books versus their digital versions? Will our real history be lost to digital edits or complete rewrites -- has it always been so?

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Adrianne