Hello, can I sit with you?
Mayur looked up from his book at the tall woman across the table from him. She was easily over six feet tall and could not have weighed more than one hundred twenty pounds. Mayur usually preferred women with a little more weight but her long black hair and smile were incredible. Please, have a seat.
Chidi was now desperate for a subject to talk about, she did not watch enough vid or sports to talk about recent shows and the weather was so boring. She noticed the book that the man was reading, it looked new, not one from a museum or second hand store. It was thick and covered with some sort of material, leather perhaps. Excuse me for being intrusive, but is that a book? Where did you buy it?
Mayur closed his book after placing the bookmark on the page he was reading and handed it casually to Chidi. She was amazed how he treated the book. When she was in university books were almost treated as sacred objects to be viewed at a distance but never touched, she read the title Breakdown: Earth in the 22nd Century. What is it about?
It is a history book, my father is a intellectual of sorts and passed the tradition on to me. Some parents told nursery rhymes or read childrens books to their children, my father told history stories and I found them better than anything on the vid, so I became interested in History. The book I made while I was in Officer Candidate School before coming here.
Wait! You made this book, but why? You could access any history book or text online from any node. This would have taken you months or longer to print, why such an old fashioned technique?
Mayur sipped his coffee, as a historian he was used to such questions sometimes asked with curiosity or scorn. The woman seemed a mix of curiosity and a bit of revulsion, like the boy who caught his first fish and now had to clean it. How best to answer it without sounding arrogant?
Sister Winfield, online texts can be edited or removed or blocked for viewership. In fact several governments or corporations sponsored such legislation. Printed material however can be smuggled, copies, separated and reassembled at a later time. You do not need batteries or network access or approval from a higher authority. You are anonymous. Plus there is the peace that a good book provides to make someone to think and perhaps dream.
As for why we print books, it is for one simple reason, preservation. Our civilization has had breakdowns in law and order and technology. Usually the first things discarded or destroyed is high technology. We preserve older methods in case of such a catastrophe. Just because something is outdated does not mean it is useless. Heirloom vegetables can grow in places where commercial crops cannot, methods of power generation recognizable to our ancestors can be seen in remote places. Plus there is a satisfaction in making something with your own hands whether is a loaf of bread or a book. I hope I did not bore you Sister.
Please, my name is just Chidi. If I may ask, what are you doing next Sunday?
