La Liseuse, by Fragonard, depicts the romance between book and reader.
Will libraries, which have been sanctuary to books (libri) since they evolved on earth, slowly be replaced with genus “kindle,” bloodless, soulless creatures of invention? Will paper and cloth-bound books themselves be replaced? Some laud the efficiency and convenience of this new species, which is designed to fulfil books’ roles in the intellectual end entertainment ecosystems, while others are skeptical as to whether these markedly uncuddly gizmos can replace the book as a member of the family, and, more ominously, whether these “kindles” might in fact reverse the democratizing effects of the printing press.
While books used to roam free in home libraries, the Kindle threatens to destroy their habitat
Bestiarum Vocabulum 