Out of the Woods / There's nothing like a book

Call me a curmudgeon. Or a newspaperman who reveres the past. Or even a stubborn holdout against "progress." Whatever.

Like you, I am obviously trapped in the phenomenon of runaway technology in 21st century communications. But I don't have to like it. Or even use much of it.

For example, when it comes to reading, I hold on to my touchy-feely books for dear life.

No Kindles or iPads for this veteran journalist!

An item in the September/October Westport Library bulletin boosted my morale considerably. The story on page 1 proudly reported that, "You (Westporters) topped all previous records by being huge library users. During the past year, you checked out more books, asked more questions, and attended more programs than ever before -- by a long shot."

The story continued: "Was it the economy? Was it the need to come together? Whatever the reason, it happened, and we're proud to let you know that you demanded the best and we worked hard to deliver."

My guess it was a combination of all these reasons, especially during a period of severe economic downturn, when many people travel less and spend less money on books and CDs, DVDs and other techie stuff to entertain themselves.

Nonetheless, as a fan of Maxine Bleiweis, our intrepid library director who has turned the Westport Public Library into Westport's thriving cultural center for adults and children, I heartily welcome the news that the art of reading "real books" from the library is going strong.

I have had a lifetime love of books. I read them; I buy them to add to our considerable library at home; and, mostly in recent years, I write them (That is the hardest part of my passion for books).

Of course, I use a laptop computer when I write, unlike Bill Clinton and other famous politicians and writers who still write out their volumes in longhand before someone else keystrokes them into a computer. It is far more efficient, I concede, than sitting down at my old Royal typewriter, setting up two sheets of paper with carbon paper between them and pounding the keys, using "white out" to correct the mistakes.

To tell you the truth, I really miss those days of newspapering when I sat at my desk in the city room on deadline banging away stories on a page and keeping the carbon copy for myself in order to remember what I had written on the previous pages.

That was more than a half century ago when many of us admired Ben Hecht's famous play, "Front Page," as the epitome of journalism. We all imitated his characters in a noisy city room filled with desks and typewriters, circular dial telephones, and piles and piles of newspapers.

Now, with all respect to my friend, Maxine, I understand from reading her column that -- as the extraordinary mover and shaker that she is -- she is obliged to offer all kinds of modern gadgets for her patrons to use at the library. By offering help with a Kindle, Nook, Sony, iPad, or other devices, she keeps her house of knowledge on the leading edge.

I like the analogy she used in her column -- From the Director's Desk -- "of a library as a kitchen instead of a grocery store." A store is where you buy the ingredients; a kitchen "is much more exciting," she writes, "where the ingredients come together. The library's ingredients are people, information of all sorts, hardware, and software, and yes, books. (italic mine)."

She adds: "At get-togethers, we always seem to end up in the kitchen because it's where the best conversation is. And the library is about that -- the conversation as well as the content."

If anyone is confused about the new technologies, she points out that the library has them all for people to try. She also mentions the library's new service, free downloadable music called Freegal (free and legal).

Let me be perfectly clear. While I do not personally have a yearning (yet) to embrace these new ways of reading and communicating, that does not mean that I do not approve of them.

After all, as an former IBM editor and writer, I owe a great deal of allegiance to the use of a computer. It has become my bread and butter. I could not function as a writer without it.

Still, when a good friend of mine carries his Kindle with him all the time and demonstrates it to me as a time-saving device that can store dozens of books and is so easy to use, I retreat to my lifelong defense of the original book. I tell him how much I like carrying a book around, smelling it, touching, it, putting a book marker in it, relishing the thought of getting back to reading it.

It's multi-dimensional. It's real. I can keep it in my bookcase and use it for reference, having already pasted little yellow post-its on those pages which I want to quote. It's solid. It's with me. It isn't going into the blogosphere. It excites all of my senses.

You get the idea. So, while I congratulate Maxine for creating a 21st century ambience in our public library -- one of the most treasured cultural resources in town -- I will stick to my lifelong book-reading habit.

That is, unless and until I become so far out of the mainstream that I have no choice but to join the technology crowd on the Information Superhighway that Al Gore invented.

I wonder if there is anybody else out there who enjoys reads books "the old-fashioned" way and intends to stay with it. I may be a lone cowboy riding an old horse, but I always like to know that there are others slightly out of step with the times. It gives me hope that, perhaps, we can live in a world where writing letters by hand and even using yellow pads and typewriters can co-exist side-by-side with the wonders of technology.

Woody Klein's "Out of the Woods" column appears regularly in the Westport News. He has authored seven books, some of which, ironically, are also online as e-books.