Pushing Paper

Photo: Saachi Online

"Publishers should tantalize consumers by evoking books' sensory pleasures: the smell; the feel in your hands; that crisp, appealing crinkle of a turned page and smooth snap of a dust jacket. Publishers should elicit the joys of 'curling up with a book,' the satisfaction of seeing your library on a shelf in your bedroom — the years of your life marked by rows of colorful spines, the pages covered with marginalia. To do this, publishers could borrow vinyl enthusiasts' lines like, 'Records have a certain smell. You can't smell an MP3,' and, 'I associate certain records' smells with a certain summer, a particular girlfriend.' Audiophiles also discuss fidelity, how records sound undeniably better than MP3s. Surely there's a book analog waiting to be developed." — Aaron Gilbreath, Chicago Tribune
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