The future of writing and reading seems to be on the edge of a line. On the one side, everything is digitized, and on the other is the traditional print. Society seems to want to place these two futures at odds with each other. As a student, the availability of online texts has really helped my learning and given me the opportunity to save money on textbooks where it really counts. However, nothing can ever replace the feel of a book in my hands or the smell upon opening a new book. Personally, I believe books will never stop being printed. Not everything can be digitized. The same goes for writing. Yes it’s easier to respond to someone quickly by posting your thoughts on the internet, but research being published has a respect in universities that a quick post on the internet has not yet reached.

The project Google Books has undertaken can help millions of people, but it is hard to believe that the ultimate goal will ever be reached. Not every writer or publisher is going to be pleased with the idea that their own work is available free to read, not after putting in the time and effort to have it printed. Besides that, Google Books has its own issues to work out. I appreciate their effort to post books that I might have to read for class, but in all honesty I try to avoid Google Books. On the off-chance they do have the book I need, it is usually missing pages or it was not scanned properly. At this point I would rather just put in the money to buy the print version and have it delivered to my house.