电子书革命将改变你的命运

对于我们这代人，童年最遗憾的记忆，恐怕就是想读书而没有书可读了。在那个年代，除了毛选等为数不多的红色书籍，几乎是没有什么东西可读、可买的。即使有，很多时候也买不起。记得在读初中的时候，我用母亲给我的买文具的钱，买了一本关于巴黎公社起义的图画书，好像是花了0.2元。那一次在公社的商店柜台，小小年纪的我，看了好久，琢磨和惦量了好半天，才心满意足地买下了生平第一本自己在店里面买下的自己喜欢的书籍。那个店，当时应该是乡里最大的一家商店。几十年之后，每一次去那里，我还依依不舍地问人们，当年那个商店的地址，并且还很好奇地想知道，它今天的命运。

 再此后，我们就只能以读手抄本为主要阅读手段了。那时候，名著也读过，很多时候是部分阅读，因为，不少的书缺页少章。《少女之心》之类的“黄色小说”，记得也看过，只是内容已经完全不记得了。那都是经过不知道是多少人多少次的抄写之后，才能有的享受。也真难为了这些“地下工作者”，为了文化和文明的传播，算是费尽了心思。不过也好，不少人，可能就是因为这种机会，才让自己有了识字和练习写字的机会的。

 到高中的时候，为了参加高考，到处找复习资料。一本化学复习资料，错误连篇，也只在自己手里呆了三个月，就被人偷走了。这又给自己的高考带来了不可低估的损失，自己也因此而与化学相关专业无缘。一本数学复习资料，证明题，没有几个是真的能够成立的。缺三少四，很多时候，同学们时不时需要有人为他们反推，搞明白到底是那里印刷错了。查错的工作量实在是太大了，但是，也是由于这种差错的需要，可能也还有自己潜意识里，想在漂亮女生面前炫耀本事的内在冲动，给了自己无穷无尽的勤奋动力。现在想想，还真的得感谢那些粗制烂造的家伙，不然的话，自己可能也没有机会发现自己的数学潜力。

 大学时，选择了数学作为自己的专业，因为，在那个“科学的春天”， 数理化才是“人才”应该聚集的地方。对知识的渴望，和获得知识的那份满足感，至今还让我深感甜蜜和幸福。据说，目前中国的大学校园，已经没有这样的“傻子”存在了。这或许也在预示着，一个表面看上去很繁荣的中国，未来将会是一个什么样子的。

 那时候，我很羡慕那些学文科的人，读小说和文学杂志居然还是学习专业的一部分。而对于自己，则是标准的不务正业了。在大学的时候，大学图书馆的藏书，对我而言，确实是太丰富了。由于那些书籍的吸引力，我不得不挤压自己的学习时间，来搞点“自留地”，好让自己享受一番“不务正业”的快感。作为当时被重点栽培的专业对象，这种奢侈可是难以让人容忍的。

 在大学，我读到的第一本“童话”，应该就是《鲁滨逊漂流记》，读后的感觉，好像是“发现”了一个完全不同于数学逻辑的新世界。随后就一发而不可收。校办工厂印刷的供批判用的《战争与和平》，《查特莱夫人的情人》等世界名著，就成为我们这些业余“批评家”的最爱了。那清香的油墨味，给予我的满足，甚至比我家现在每天飘香的那颗茉莉花的香味，还要强烈得多。

 爱书，爱读书，对于我们这代人，可能相当于现在年轻人对于网络游戏的钟情了。在国内的时候，很多钱都被贡献给了新华书店。当年大学时代，为了买一本大部头的书籍，甚至可以从每个月13元的伙食费中打主意。第一次向人借款，也是为了买书。结果，就是一次次的书本累积，和随后又一次次的将它们遗弃。由于没有自己稳定的住所，每转移一座城市，就不得不处理掉好几箱子的书籍。即使是自己想用心保存的，寄存在亲人家中的宝贝，几年之后再见到时，那浓浓的霉味和变色的纸张，也还是让自己没有翻几页的兴趣。很可能，在美国看多了印刷漂亮的书籍，无形之中，自己已经成为“陈世美”，早已经堕落，而又自不可知。记得在人民大学教书的那几年，每一次会湖北度暑假，第一件事，就是将自家的藏书搬出来晒太阳。湖北潮湿的空气，带给书籍的就是一层层的绿霉。

 最近十多年，旧习难改，不经意之间，家中一个个巨大的书柜也整整齐齐地放满了各种各样的书籍。很多过去在国内时非常想得到的“原文书”，在这里能够很容易，有时候甚至还是很低廉的成本获得。过去很多听起来“如雷贯耳”的大作，很多也顺理成章地收归到这些悠闲的队伍中去了。不过，遗憾的是，其中多数的，也只是呆在那里，就像古代后宫的妃子，难得有人关顾的。原因，并不是我不再喜欢阅读，而是阅读更多，但却是从不同的渠道而已。

 有了孩子之后，给孩子找书，为孩子读书，就成为新的工作、乐趣和享受了。好在，美国的书商和作者非常专业，针对不同年龄层次的孩子，设计和出版了不同档次的书籍。让你容易找，也让孩子容易喜欢上。当她们再大一点的时候，当自己想给她们教点中文时，才发现了不少难以想象到的麻烦：中文书没有美国的“年纪”分类系统。要想针对不同年龄，提供不同档次的中文阅读物，简直就是一件不可能做到的事情，除非你自己动手写。

一旦时间，曾经自作聪明，以国内的教材来代替这种“寻找”的工作，结果发现了另一个“惊喜”：想不到，今天中国的小学和中学的课文，还依然带有很浓重的意识形态色彩。那课本中的许多故事和课文，是不适合于拿来教导在美国长大的孩子的。除非你想将他们训练成你自己都不想成为的那种人。

 一晃几年过去了，在自己对书本还爱恋不舍的时候，“一觉”醒来，才发现是一厢情愿的单相思：人们已经开始不玩“那玩意”了。现在开始时兴电子书，连大名鼎鼎的那两家美国的“新华书店”，也开始面临破产的命运了。新的革命，就这样开始了，悄无声息。

 在这场悄悄来临的革命面前，你看到什么机会了吗？如果没有，如果你还在怀旧，那么，现在应该是你醒过来的时刻。这场革命，很可能也能在一定程度上改变你的命运。就看你怎么个玩法了。

 听明白了吗？如果没有，那就好好看看下面附录里的这篇文章吧。

附录：The bookstore massacre is coming

8/17/10 | Marketwatch

BOSTON (MarketWatch) -- Are we about to see bookstores closing across the country? I suspect so.

Look at the depressing proxy battle for what remains of Barnes & Noble Inc. (BKS), the world's largest chain of bookstores. You could hardly dominate an industry more than B&N has dominated the landscape of traditional bookstores. Yet its fortunes have fallen so far that management has hoisted the white flag and put it up for sale.

Barnes & Noble stock, which was flying high above $45 five years ago, has plummeted below $15. Wall Street's view of its prospects is so dim that not even the news of a bid battle has set it alight. The only bright spot: The company's e-book sales, which rocketed 51% last quarter.

(A vignette of a company in decline: Barnes & Noble's annual filing shows that management and staff owns 5.5 million stock options, granted to them in previous years to give them an incentive to work harder and smarter. The options have an average exercise price of $20.19 -- meaning most of them, if not all, are now seemingly worthless.)

As for the other giant of traditional bookstores: Borders Group Inc. (BGP) stock has plummeted by as much as 95% from its peak. Indeed, Borders stock, at around $1.20, is now a fraction of the cost of a book.

Meanwhile, e-books have now reached that tedious clich the tipping point. Amazon.com Inc.'s latest Kindle e-book reader has sold out -- weeks before it even started shipping. The new device is smaller, cheaper, and has a better screen.

Amazon (AMZN) says it's now selling more e-books than paper-based books -- about 43 % more in the last quarter, including about 80% more in the final month.

It doesn't end there.

Expect prices for e-book readers to start collapsing. How can Barnes & Noble still charge $149 for its Nook, or Borders $149 for the Kobo reader, when Amazon's newer, better product sells for $139?

And, of course, it's not just about e-book readers. People are also downloading electronic books onto their Apple (AAPL) iPads, laptops, tablet computers, and cell phones. But e book readers are the key for serious readers. Their screens, unlike those on regular devices, emit no light into your eyes. So they are much better suited for reading.

While prices collapse, screens are getting better. The latest Kindles have the newest, improved version of "eInk" screens. (I've used one of these screens, and it's a noticeable improvement.)

We already know how this story is going to end. We saw it with the cell phone and with the iPod. The devices and services get better and better until suddenly they go mainstream.

Three years ago, an e-book reader cost $400, offered a limited choice of books, and had a dark gray screen that wasn't so easy on the eyes. Today they're just over $100, offer almost unlimited choices of books, and the screens are excellent. And, naturally, you can download books over the air.

When these things happen, they happen quickly.

When I was growing up, record stores were a place you could hang out. In a really great store -- one of those big city leviathans spread over several stories -- you could spend the best part of a day flipping through the racks looking for hard-to-find records, obscure titles, things you'd never even heard of.

Teenagers today probably have no idea what I'm talking about. Who goes to a record store? Why don't you just download your music onto your iPod?

As recently as 2001 there were music stores everywhere. As many as 80,000 people worked in them, according to the Labor Department. And that was a number that had been steady for years.

In 2002 the iPod took off. Today the number working in music stores is 20,000 -- a 75% collapse.

As for the book industry: About 125,000 people still work in book stores and news dealers, according to Labor. How many of them will still have jobs in two years? Another 75,000 work in book publishing. When writers self-publish in electronic format, how many publishers will still be left?

I will be sorry to see the bookstore go. I love browsing for books. You'll find titles you weren't expecting or didn't know existed. I love discovering an out of print gem in a second hand bookstore.

Even today, if you make the full use of money-off deals and coupons at places like Borders you can often get paper books for less than e-books. And there's a limit to how much you can carry, so there's a limit to how much you can buy. I'll admit I'm getting fed up with technology. I dislike computers. I've even taken to reading an old-fashioned newspaper again.

But it's "progress." We'll have to deal with it.