What is a book?

A book is an empty container.

It is an airtight, sealable container. When you open the cover of a book, you're opening this container. With every adjective, a new idea is created. That idea can be placed in the container and stored there for whenever you choose to look at it. You're forming a picture in your mind and you're able to keep it there, air tight, so nothing escapes. That way, when you read the book again, you're able to lift the lid and be transported to wherever you last left off. Then when you're finished, you're able to store it away, but it is always in reach.

A book is an idea, a place, an alternate reality, an escape to another world or maybe just around the corner for you where you can hide and be kept safe while also exploring a dangerous cavern. Even some scientific thingy where you can become someone else temporarily. It offers your perspective that you wouldn't get by just being yourself.If you are a poor, small town girl, living in a lonely world, you could become that city guy living the high life in Maui as the son of a rich Mafia boss. Changing genders is perfectly acceptable in a book world. No one judges you if you want to read the perspective of the opposite gender.Joe Meno stated that with each new book read, the story, or message,

"begin[s] anew each time, introducing a whole other generation to the possibilities of reading. [...] A book is actually a place, a place where we, as readers, still have the chance to engage in active imagining, translating word into image, connecting these images to memories, dreams and larger ideas."

While he may be correct when it comes to the purpose of a book, (besides informing), he believes that it's still the same no matter the format.

"There's something about the physicality of a book, the way it looks and feels and even smells--the notes written in the margins--that makes it a living, breathing companion (who, like yourself, is actually dying)."

Nancy Jo Sales had it right.I don't want to be a hypocrite. I have 459 books in my personal library at home, but I also possess a Nook with around 230 additional books. I love my Nook. It's so more convenient to carry around this tiny computer than to carry a 600+ page book. It is. It really is. And when I forget my Nook, I'm still able to read it using the Nook app on my iPhone or iPad. But here's the thing, my Nook messes up. The files become corrupted and I'm left missing pages. Or I will be on page 394, trying to flip to 395 and it prevents me from "turning the page". So I will search for the page, and it will jump me back 7 pages. Talk about frustrating and inconvenient. Or if I'm not paying attention, I will go to page 394, flip it and be on 397 and continue going on. Then a few pages later, 395 and 396 will be right in front of 406. Flipping back and forth trying to find continuity is irritating.Let's just say that you don't have that problem with an actual book that you hold in your hand, turning the physical pages.With all these self publishers that go straight to the internet, proofreading has become a dream of the past. It's become an archaic word that English teachers throw around, duly hoping that some student will hear them and actually read through their paper before submitting some creature with text language all over it.This hardly ever occurs with a real, life book. For one thing, text books won't ever be completely online. Yes, there may be a reference to use when you're at home, but they'll still be handing them out to you on the first day of class. Tom Piazza had it right,

"Computers are e-books and smartphones all basicallly look alike. They are strictly vehicles; you pick them up to step through them into some consensus reality." There is something about an actual book, "There's a resonance. Somebody else might have held the book, and valued it. Maybe they made notes in the margin, and kept it and handed it down to their children... I mean, you can give somebody a book; it has weight, it’s a gesture of faith in the future."

There is value in a book. Something you can hold in your hand and smell. There's even value in a book with uneven edges. It's not the same reading Macbeth on a Kindle as it is holding a copy of it in your hand.