Read the Book, Don't Wait for the . . .

So Borders entered Chapter 11. I don't mean of one of their tomes, either. Three local stores will be closing. I did get a very nice email from the CEO telling me that just because they can't make it in this economy doesn't mean they won't still be selling books. You can visit here for more information. They blame the economy and the electronic reading devices for the failure of the brick-and-mortar stores. People just aren't reading the way they used to. Sure, they read, just not paper. There are some old-fashioned holdouts like me who like paper copies. It's partly because I like the tactile experience, but more because I'm cheap. Sure some e-books are free or not expensive to download, but I don't want to pay for the reader. Not when I can buy library discards at 5 for $1.50 like I did a couple days ago.
I was also pondering: I had a conversation with someone recently about children who are more likely to read. If a family has many books, a child is more likely to read, even above children who are taken to the library. The logical conclusion is that books must be important if one is going to keep them around. Even more important if you bring copious amounts home only to take them back within a couple of weeks. So what does this mean for a person whose library is inches thick? I could download all 3,000+ books, without taking an inch of shelf space; I've paid for them, but is my child going to see that? Hmm. . . Just pondering.