This post raises an interesting and important question. As a blind child and teenager growing up I devoured braille books and abridged cassette versions of titles ranging from classics to thrillers. The problem was that only a fraction of the books produced where (and are still) transcribed into braille so my choice, as a visually impaired reader was severely limited. All this changed with the advent of ebooks and e-readers such as the Amazon Kindle. With the text to speech facility I am able to read the same books as my sighted friends so technology has greatly expanded my capacity to enjoy reading. On the down side of the equation, the growth of technology has lead to the decline in braille production so books which where previously available in braille can no longer be purchased (I assume due to the belief that blind people prefer to access them electronically). I love the physicality of books and derive tremendous enjoyment from sitting with a braille book on my knee, a pleasure very different from that experienced when reading an ebook. So my experience of the growth of technology, from the perspective of a blind person is generally positive, although tinged with regret due to the fall off in the production of physical (braille) books. More generally I regret the obsession with technology as an end in itself rather than as a means to an end. Technology should be the servant and not the master. Kevin

To misquote Mark Twain, “reports of the death of print books have been greatly exaggerated”. Kevin