The Future of Books

Apparently I'm on a good anti-technology, pro-paper kick these days....so here's the latest(sent via one of Beth Pratt's wonderful 'round the office Daily Green Tips...thanks Beth!)

The Future of Books, by Kyle Bean is,  while a book in the traditional sense of having covers, bindings and pages of written word, is actually a statement design piece meant to demonstrate 21st century searches and sources of information. The book itself is an old hardback book(no idea what book...) that Kyle has turned into this:

 From the outside, it's a nice, unassuming hardback book. The inside, on the other hand, has been modified into a book/laptop hybrid. It's not a functioning laptop, but contains a battery pack to light the screen.

While definitely inspiring a common understanding between myself and Kyle's statement, it also made me think about my personal place in the evolution of books and written materials into basically articles of technology. I believe I would be incredibly lost if you sat me down and asked my write a bibliography, something I could have come close to doing correctly from memory 10 years ago, because I honestly have no idea how it would work today. I can reference books, periodicals, journals, encyclopedias etc....but if I were writing something requiring references, I have to wonder how many of those items I would physically hold and reference, rather than searching and reading them on my bright little screen. And the can of worms of "magazine A page 12, referenced via page such-and-such of website B, found via search term X on search engine Y" just doesn't sound like a whole lot of fun...you'd find me spending just as much time referencing how to write my bibliography as researching the actual document! Please tell me they at least still teach how to a write a bibliography referencing "actual" materials, right??

I guess it's not something to sweat about until my next urge towards more education(they swing through every few years...), so I guess so long as we still have things that look like books, I imagine I'll be ok....