As the old cigarette commercial used to proclaim, “You’ve come a long way, baby.” WE’VE come a long way—from the first moveable type to search engines.
It’s been the proverbial journey of 1000 steps. And what a journey it’s been We’ve seen the era of banned books, when the city fathers—and it was never city mothers—banned the sale or distribution of books that they feared would corrupt the minds of the muncipality’s pure citizens. We’ve seen the era when children’s books almost all taught morals or lessons. They weren’t purely for fun and enjoyment. We’ve seen the advent of paperbacks. In paperbacks we’ve seen so-called trade paperbacks, larger, classier, and more durable than what are known as mass market paperbacks, which all the early paperbacks were. We’ve seen—or should I say “heard”—audiobooks. And ebooks? “Kindle” has become as ubiquitous a name for e-readers as “Kleenex” became for tissues.
We’ve seen various trends over the years. In romances, different sub-genres have come and gone. Westerns had their day. They’re still around, but not in the multitudes they once were. Sci-fi remains a perennial favorite, but since we landed on the moon, tales of moon landings don’t exactly fit in the “fiction” category. Women in jeopardy was a hot genre a few years back but has lost some of its lustre. Motivational, inspirational, and self-help are still going strong—so much so that the field is crowded. Books by or about celebrities retain their currency. But overall, trends come and go.
Innovations in children’s books over the years have included pop-ups, and of course there is adjunct merchandising, toys and dolls and such, though that’s a phenomenon that started a long time back. Think of Raggedy Ann books and dolls.
What hath Gutenberg wrought?
Today we have Google, which allows us to identify books of interest, whether for business or studies, for hobbies or for recipes, for self-help or just for pleasure reading. We can find quotes from books that we wish to use in our work or just to win a debate with that smart-a** in the office. We can satisfy our curiosity or simply inform ourselves better on a topic if we read a book suggested by a Google search.
We also have Wikipedia, the online encyclopedia, and online dictionaries and thesauruses, as well as translation programs.
What’s next? What’s ahead? I don’t have a crystal ball, but I bet it’s going to be a fascinating journey!