So many people now are downloading craft books, wisdom manuals, and other items off the internet to simply read and delete as soon as they are done. It's easier than carting a massive 1,000+ hard-bound book of how-tos that is just as hard to disguise as it is to carry in a unobtrusive bag that won't break your aunt's expensive vase on that precariously placed end table. It make things seem impossible to do 'the old fashioned way', but is it possible that we are missing out on the authentic reading experience when our phones, our music player, our text messaging system, and our kindle are all in the same little computer chip, only separated by coding and files. The whole thing is lost if we happen to drop it in a puddle of water, the information never to be seen again unless you have a cousin who's a social goon but can crack iPads in a hot second. In all this new technological fueled spazm of excitement and desire, are we losing something between the cracks of downloading the next app and having the newest tune blaring into our ears while we attempt to read  something in the forty minutes between commuters locations? Has the subway really become our new library?

I remember the days when the world was younger and 'reading time' meant that the house had to be silent. When you'd curl up with a blanket and a cup of something hot because it was comforting against the everything else that lurked just outside of your vision as your imagination took control and shipped you off to some strange and new or fascinating places. What happened to musty old book smell and the librarian glaring at you from the next shelf because you and your friends were giggling over something from the romance section? Or watching that girl you like make a grossed out face because you happened upon the spiders section of the massive picture dictionary?

Sometimes I worry that these days are over, and the more I attempt to purchase out-of-print materials over the internet, the more I see this becoming a reality. Amazon, and all of the other high-volume internet book sellers are working their hardest to actually make options available that 'decrease paper usage' by increasing down load revenue and making it possible that they can track you all over the world while you read their newest Oprah listing.

Am I the only one who still reads by firelight, delving into the magical secrets of the universe in my imagination as I consider what the fictional version of Mc Dreamy happens to look like? I can't be the only person on the face of the earth that actually enjoys the feel of a paper back's pages and the smell of new ink in their novels. Someone else, speak out here.

Are we losing the richness and fulfilling sensation of reading by letting all our paper products be reduced to phone apps and appliances?

I so agree that the computer-age has all but killed the good old fashioned book.  There's nothing more comforting that to relax with a great book....the feel of the cover...the pages....nothing can compare.  On the other hand, with today's new technologies, one could have a great occult collection of books on a kindle, and not have to worry about having extra space in ones home to build a library (altho, i'd LOVE to have a huge library filled with shelf after shelf of books).  Guess it all falls back to what each individual prefers....

I agree that today fewer people are reading actual books.  I am one of the only people in my ENTIRE neighborhood that likes to curl up and read.  I set time aside every morning and every evening just to enjoy a good book.  Right now most of my books are in boxes far away from me, and I truly miss them.  I didn't realize what a chore it would be to buy books when I moved to Mexico.  There aren't many "book" stores, and only one that carries anything written in english.  The schools here don't even use books.  The kids buy a workbook for each subject, and take notes in class.  I've been helping a couple of neighbor kids with math, and when I couldn't remember a formula off the top of my head, I asked to see their book, and they don't have one.

To me, it's scary to think of a world without books, but I suppose one day we won't have any, it'll all be electronic downloads, and it's not the same to curl up with an electronic gadget in your hand, just doesn't feel the same.

Saw a thing on CNN a couple days ago....they were talking about what schools would be like in 10 years time.  No more books....everything will be on some equivalent to the ipad, books and all.  I've always loved Star Trek and other various sci-fi programs....but the loss of books wasn't what I considered a fantastic future...

I don't know about you, but I just don't find the smell of an iPad quite the same as that of an old book, or get the same sensation from powering one on as I have when opening up a new paperback and hearing it crackle.  And I just don't like the inability to flip back and forth between sections with ease the way I do with "hard" copies of books, say, when you've got a finger in the glossary or one on the map at the start of the Tolkien novel or just need to keep flipping back a couple pages to remind yourself of something you *think* was about so-and-so, but might actually have been referring to someone else (yes, I carry a very poor short term memory with me).  The only benefit I can think may exist to these new gadgets, besides those mentioned by the rest of you before me, is the ability to search through text for a particular quote and its context, or some other search-worthy text.  Yet that has always been achievable to me through old-fashioned hard work.  
I remember as a child my great-aunt had a huge, 100+ year-old house with a long stairway going down to the basement, which is where my sisters and I would spend as much of our time as we could get away with, in the grey, musty old room with the cobwebby old furniture and the great table covered with a huge cloth, underneath which hid every kind of old mystery novel of which any young girl could dream.  I still have a couple, cleaned-up versions of those books, but would give anything to go back and just smell that old smell again, or stand there, taking in what little dim light could reach the room from the high windows.  
I wonder, will these new devices ever create memories for others the way the realities they're replacing did for us?