I have a New Yorker cartoon that shows two men in the garb of the Middle Ages looking at a big book. One says to the other “It’s nice, but as long as there are readers people are going to want scrolls.” I keep this in the case for my Kindle Fire which you so generously gave me on my recent 50^th birthday.  It is a reminder that at one time the book itself was a piece of new technology. It is also a reminder of more.
I feel I need to take a few lines to defend my love of the Kindle Fire you so generously gave me on my 50^th birthday.  I have a bit of a reputation as being a neo-Luddite, but the fact is I’m just lazy and contrary. I use the easiest tool at hand – and that is rarely the latest piece of technology. I refuse to be free R&D for Bill Gates.  When it is easy to use, I’ll embrace it.  Until then you techno-nerds enjoy spending $500 for something that doesn’t work and will be obsolete in 10 months. I’ll wait.
The current e-readers available are great. I can (and do) carry more than 800 books in my hand at one time. I have spent only the three $25 gift cards I received for my birthday on these 800 books. All but a handful were free – a bounty made possible by the fact that so many will pay $20 to download the latest Dean Koontz, or Janet Evanovich novels as soon as they are available. Meanwhile I can get The Autobiography of Benjamin Franklin, Walden, and The Greek New Testament for free.  Thank you, pulp readers. Keep stimulating the economy.
The book is still a superior piece of technology to the e-reader, I believe. A book is as fundamental and ergonomically perfect as the wheel. It needs no electricity. It is (or should be) more pleasing aesthetically and tactilely. It is easier to share down the generations. It is easier to cross reference in, and to thumb through. I don’t know about you, but I find that one doesn’t disappear into a screen the way one does a page. On the Antiques Road Show the other day I saw a guy bring in Charlotte Bronte’s Bible with copious marginal notations and underlinings. It was valued at $30,000. Although I’m not a fan of the Brontes, I do love a book with lots of notes in it. There is an extra level of communication there – sometimes across centuries. I have an Isaiah commentary from 1793 with some marginal notes in it.  Wonderful.  You can’t do that with an e-reader. An e-reader is as cold as an MRI machine.  An e-reader is a library, but a book can be a legacy.
The Book is a piece of Christian technology. Although we have no idea who invented the book, it is clear, historically, that Christians popularized the new technology. In the lectionary, and later in the codex, Christians found it easier to read, share, and study the Bible by flipping the page instead of unrolling the scroll. The spread of the book coincided with the spread of the Gospel. The availability of the book is part of what made the early centuries A.D. “the fullness of time.”;
All this is so because God gave us the written word. Beginning with two tablets of stone, then using parchments and scrolls, and finally on the pages of The Book, God reveals Himself in the written word. He created the universe by using words (Genesis 1). He recreates us using “The Word” (John 1.1-18). His word is alive with His breath (II Timothy 3.16). It is alive and active, accomplishing the microsurgery that our souls need (Hebrews 4.12).
We are reminded of importance of the written word in II Timothy, Paul’s most personal letter.  In jail, he has need of three things – his brother, his coat, and his books (II Timothy 4.9-13). He is concerned about Timothy’s timidity, and challenges him to kindle the fire, to “fan the flames” of the gift in him (1.5). The work of doing this will be accomplished in the word of God (2.15), which will completely equip the person of God for every good work (3.16-17).
We can kindle the fire ourselves on a Kindle Fire, or a Nook, or a book (the Book), or perhaps by unrolling a scroll. But read we must. God gives us words – living words. - Barry Bryson
(Web Admin's Note:  Speaking on behalf of the "techno-nerds" who upload the articles to the website each week, we take no offense at the term, and in fact, embrace it warmly. )