Quindlen Summary

In “Turning the Page” by Anna Quindlen, she argues about the real effects of ink-press books becoming antique due to the rise of e-readers and other electronic reading devices. Quindlen is a nonfiction author that believes heavily on reading the old-fashion way from ink-press books then from e-readers or electronic reading devices. She predicts that the radio will die due to television; recorded music, ending concerts. Libraries that have stocked up in a low amount of e-readers have had all of them loaned out within the hour. A survey in 1952 asked if you were reading a book or novel. Eighteen percent of respondents said “yes”. About fifty years later, the same survey was asked and the percentage of readers has increased about a whole thirty percent. Researches have indicated that the users of e-readers are not the young still in school, but middle-aged men. Quindlen backs up her argument by finding similar authors with the same beliefs. Sven Birkerts’s The Gutenberg Elegies states, the meaning of the words can change significantly depending on whether they are on a screen or in ink. In a positive note, e-reader owners are actually reading more because they are more accessible, mobile, and convenient for people. Quindlen’s hypothesis about the extinction of reading was false. In today’s society, reading from print and from e-readers will not go away. She refers to this as “e-elitism”. Reading is not just to increase one’s intelligent, but also for entertainment. Texts are everywhere, from music lyrics on a paperback to cell-phone screens, the population of people that reads grow every