Printed book facing eBook
 

In 868 C.E., the first book, 'Diamond Sutra', was printed from a series of woodblocks.1 Now, almost 1200 years later the printed book is starting to disappear, the eBook is replacing the printed books. In July 1971 Micheal Hart created project Gutenberg with the aim of making literary books free and electronically for public domain. This is where the eBook was created. An eBook is quite similar to a printed book but then in a digital medium. It is a printed book that is only available on paper, but although the eBook is a digital representation it can be on different mediums such as a computer, an e-reader, a mobile phone and even on paper by printing it. This makes the content more versatile.
However, the eBook has the benefits of versatility rather the printed book has a better readability, that is the first argument to preserve the printed book. It is the printed book that already sustains the technical problems, the eBook is still very young and because the readability from the screen is not perfect there are technically a lot of developments to make. The second argument for preserving the printed book is since many people have an enhanced experience and memory with using it. 
For some professions the printed books are major, one of these professions is the branch of graphic designers. The reason why it is so major for designers is firstly because it has a substantial value, secondly since graphic designers are educated for printed materials instead of online designing. And thirdly because graphic designers collaborated a lot with other disciplines of art where a printed book is still important for selling the products.
'Print books are here to stay; eBooks will enhance access to more science and research.'2 Over twenty years, maybe the printed books will only be existing in museums, but for now the printed book is still important for translating and transmitting knowledge, this is due to the fact the eBook is not developed enough yet to incorporate completely.













Bibliography

- Soeng, M., The diamond Sutra: Transforming the way we perceive the world, Somerville, (Wisdom publications), 2000.

- Van der Velde, W., Ernst, O., 'The futre of eBooks? Will print disappear? An end-user perspective', Library Hi Tech 27 (2009), 4, pp 570-583.




1 Soeng 2000, p. 58.
2 Van der Velde and Ernst 2009, pp 570-583.