When I was reading Michelle Levy and Tom Mole’s The Broadview Introduction to Book History page 6-8 was interesting for me. They talk about how printed books used to be the main way people shared knowledge and stories, but even as new technologies appeared like the radio, film, or the internet books didn’t disappear. Instead, they learned to live alongside all these new forms of media.

When I think back on the discussions from the last few weeks about whether books are really threatened by new media, it makes me imagine books as living things that adapt to survive. Even now, when most of us read on our phones or tablets, books are still here, quietly holding their own space. Some people talk about the “death of the book,” but Levy and Mole remind us that people have been saying that for centuries. Every time a new technology arrives, there’s this fear that reading will change forever, and yet the book always finds a way to remain part of our lives.I can feel that in my own reading habits. I also love scrolling online and reading on screens because it’s fast and easy, but holding a real book feels different. The weight of it, the texture of the pages, even the sound of turning one it makes me slow down and focus. Reading a printed book feels calmer and more intentional, like I’m connecting with something that’s been here for hundreds of years.What I love about Levy and Mole’s idea is that it makes me stop worrying about the future of books. They aren’t going anywhere. They’re just changing, like they always have. Maybe that’s what makes them so special, books don’t fight against new media, they grow with it.