Forecasting the death of books seems a sure bet these days. Modern life is full of temptations, easier and funnier entertainments that lure the most literate away from their library. But let’s change the perspective: if technology helped us focus on essentials, would it drive us back to reading? 

Enjoying a simple book, either on paper or e-Ink paper, is all about attention. Attention makes reading possible, while reading a lot sharpens cognitive abilities like… attention. A virtuous circle, so familiar to heavy readers that some may experience a weakening of other brain skills, such as face recognition. Every virtue has its drawbacks.

Connected screens devours our leisure time, leaving less and less room for real life chats, relationships, physical activity, deep thinking, even daily needs. Texts drop, notifications ring, someone waits somewhere for some urgent answer. How on earth can I keep focused on a long piece of literature, a political essay, a science article, especially if I try to read it on my always connected smartphone or tablet?

Right. Switch to plane mode. Leave the device in the corridor, under a pillow, out of reach. But then comes another kind of anxiety, called FOMO (Fear of Missing Out). So you can’t escape, you’re chasing your own tail in a running wheel. You’re trapped.

But let’s face it. The vital information you wait for is rarely vital. What you need now is some kind of filter, if not disconnection. Remember what it feels like to go out and forget your smartphone, to spend a week-end in a wirelessless cabin, to run out of battery on a hiking trip.

So let’s make another bet: the next tech generation will give you what you need, when you need it. Not what you asked for in your account settings. What you really need. Tech gurus announce a brave new world where our senses, our brain skills, our limbs will be assisted, when not replaced, by machines. Well, that’s great.

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  • Take the so-called Internet of Things (IoT): connected devices all over your home and cars, equipped with sound, color, form, temperature, air motion, electricity, pressure sensors; robots designed to help you in daily chores. Do you expect them to ring alarm bells every five minutes or to enter the room unannounced, just to see if you’re well? No. You want them to be fully operational when you need them, so you can spare time for what you enjoy most. What’s the point of having a personal assistant if you feel his breath on your neck 24/7?Look at Lord Grantham in « Downton Abbey »: when reading or writing in his… library, he knows Carson will only disturb him for important matters.
  
  
  
  
  • Take now Artificial Intelligence (AI): what makes it revolutionary is « fake intuition ». It is no more about computing, probability, imitation. It’s supposed to learn about you and « think » like your brain would think. So AI devices would fall short of my expectations unless they anticipate my expectations, deliver information even before I need it, dismiss emails I would consider spams, answer routine messages as I should, offer me only good options to choose from. Here again, no time lost, no unnecessary disturbance.
  
  
  • Last but not least, take Virtual Reality (VR). It’s supposed to carry us out to another world without leaving our couch, and that’s why video game addicts can’t wait to wear their helmets and gloves. But what it first provides is isolation, focus, and a space where our own dreams can come true. Isn’t that what we expect from books? So I wonder what VR (Virtual Reading) will look like. Three dimensional texts, visual and sound enhancements, audiobooks with brain wave generated images, a virtual book club with distant friends reading loud to each other? Sorry for being carried away… I sort of drifted along the future.

So how could books die from technology? Whatever form they take (codex, ebooks, audio or things we can’t yet think of), stories told with words are here to stay.

And I bet technology can help us there, if it evolves. Less overwhelming, more immersive.