Issue Date: May 19, 2002

In this article:
E-books
Electronic paper
MagicBooks

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Books

Novel ideas
The latest on the electronic book front

By Reed Karaim

Imagine a copy of a book you can read in English or Spanish, switching between the languages whenever you want. Or a book with pages on which the story you're reading vanishes after you're finished and a new one appears when you're ready. Or a book where every illustration becomes a 3-D world you can explore simply by donning a pair of glasses.

Those may sound like fantasies straight out of a Harry Potter novel, but each of those magical volumes is a product either already available or under development. So far, the old-fashioned, ink-on-paper book has survived the high-tech revolution largely unscathed, in part because it's a remarkably reliable, user-friendly device. But 21st-century technology is preparing to transform our idea of what it means to open a book.

"It's a fascinating moment in publishing," says David Steinberger, president of corporate strategy at HarperCollins. "We're in an experimental time, testing what readers respond to. We're going to see approaches that really differentiate e-books from traditional books."

What might the book of the future look like? The answer ranges from improved versions of today's e-books, which you download and read on a PC or other device, to inventions that might make a wizard blink.

E-books: Two years ago, before the dot-com boom went bust, the publishing industry was giddy about the potential for e-books. But except for a few notable successes (Stephen King sold more than 500,000 electronic copies of "Riding the Bullet", first available online in 2000), the rush in sales never materialized. Consumers were put off by competing formats and other technical hitches. Mostly, however, e-books came up against the fact that it's hard to curl up with a computer. "It turns out the one place you don't want a laptop is in your lap," says Dick Brass, vice president for emerging technology at Microsoft.

But e-books are coming into their own. Taking DVDs as their model, publishers have begun packing e-books with extra features, such as Internet links and author interviews. For example, the e-book version of HarperCollins' "Thirteen Senses: A Memoir" by Victor Villasenor is bilingual; the reader can switch between English and Spanish.

Sales are climbing, up 20% a month at HarperCollins. That is expected to jump when the next generation of reading devices hits the market, led later this year by Microsoft's Tablet PC. "It's shaped like a magazine," Brass says. "It's about half an inch thick, weighs less than 3 pounds, and you can hold it in your hands for a long time."

In other words, it's a PC you can curl up with.

Electronic paper: For many book lovers, however, nothing can beat the feeling of holding an old-fashioned, bound volume in your lap, turning pages and reading words on paper. If you're a traditionalist, you might feel immune to the allure of electronic books. But don't be so sure: Several companies are pursuing technology that can reproduce the readability and feeling of the traditional book with the advantages of a digital device.

It's called electronic paper -- flexible sheets that can be bound together, and hold words and pictures like ordinary paper, but can download a whole new book with the click of a switch. The technology is complicated, involving tiny capsules imbedded in the sheet that switch from light to dark, depending on electrical charge.

The necessary paper-thin circuitry still is being refined, but books with pages made of electronic paper are expected to be available in five to 10 years. They could include the search and link functions of electronic devices, but they'll be textured to feel like regular paper, says Nicholas Sheridon, research director for Gyricon Media, a leading company in the field.

James Iuliano, president and CEO of E Ink Corp. (Gyricon's principal rival), notes that as the world's libraries move into digital form, electronic paper ultimately could lead to a world in which "one book becomes all books."

The MagicBook: Today, e-books are still books, something you experience by reading and using your imagination. But down the road lies a future where they could become much more.

In the Human Interface Technology Laboratory at the University of Washington, researchers are refining the MagicBook, a system that turns illustrations in books into virtual, 3-D worlds a reader can explore. Technology like the MagicBook and others being developed that mesh virtual reality with narrative could redefine our sense of how a reader experiences a story.

The MagicBook now requires a cumbersome pair of goggles paired with software that runs on a computer. But Mark Billinghurst, one of the developers, says the goggles and hardware could shrink dramatically. Future improvements, he says, could even allow "real people to be inserted into MagicBook scenes, so your friends see you as a live character in the environment."

Even the staunchest e-book supporters admit the ink-on-paper book is a resilient creature. Can it survive the coming wave of change? HarperCollins' Steinberger says he believes the traditional book will be around for the foreseeable future. Microsoft's Brass thinks it will be largely history within 20 years. But it's readers who will decide how this story turns out -- by turning the page, scrolling down the screen or peering around the virtual corner.

Tucson, Ariz.-based Reed Karaim writes about cultural trends.

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