This brilliant cover concept (by the talented young British designer Olly Moss for Jaron Lanier’s new book, You Are Not A Gadget) - hit pretty close to home for me.

I’ve resisted eBook readers for a while now - finally I took the plunged and got myself a Nook. The experience so far has been a delight. It came in a beautiful Apple-esq box. The device itself has an elegant design. Texts are pleasant to read, easy on the eyes, lets you focus on just the words and battery lasts for days. Though turning pages (refreshing the e-ink) could be faster - which I’m sure will get fixed as the ebook reader tech advances. For now it has quickly become an object of my affection. I rewarded it with a protecting case made of classic moleskin (complete with that iconic black elastic belt.) A lovely marriage of form and function: the old and the new; feels great in hand.

…and yet I catch myself musing over what’s amiss: the feel of a real book in my hand. Sometimes while reading, I’d be fantasizing about the shape, size and that tactile touch of a physical book - my mind would wonder - what did this book used to look like? There will be a day soon enough when our grand kids might be wondering the same.

Except they’d be taking field trips to the museum to find out.