What's Next?

     Have you ever stopped to think about what the future may be like?  I began to think about this when I read about new technology that is being developed in the computer world.  According to the article I read, our PC's will no longer have to have the capacity to store large amounts of stuff, ie. pictures, games, grocery lists, etc.  Whatever you store on your computer will be stored in what they are referring to as "the cloud," kind of like a cell phone signal, it will all be available at the touch of a button for instant recall.  No more downloading stuff onto DVDs for safekeeping.
     I have also heard that folks are working to make the CPUs a fraction of the size they are now and many times faster and more powerful.
     Can you imagine what technology will be like in fifty years?  I wonder if their will still be libraries, or will they be obsolete?  What about bookstores?  I love bookstores and I'm going to tell you all a little secret, at the risk of being labeled a total nerd.  When the hubby and I would sneak away for a night or two, when our kids were young, I didn't care where we went as long as their was a book store near by.  Some of our best weekends away were when he would sleep, or watch sports on t.v., and I would go to the book store.  I could spend hours there.  My heart beats faster when I enter a book store.  
     I wonder if future generations will know the thrill of picking up a book made out of paper and ink and thumbing through it or will we be giving them e-readers in their stockings at Christmas time?
      I have to admit that I have a Kindle from amazon, for those of you that don't know what that is, it is an e-reader.  I can go on Amazon and find a book I want to read and with one click and less than 30 seconds I have that book on my Kindle.  It is very convenient when you want to go on a trip and you don't want to pack ten pounds worth of books.  However, I still love picking up a real book and reading it.  It is something I don't ever want to do away with completely.  There is something magical about books and I have felt that way since I was ten and I saved my babysitting money to buy the complete series of Little House On The Prairie books, one at a time.
     I embrace advancements in technology, most of them anyway, but I hope we don't lose a part of our history as humans along the way.  The printed word has done more to advance humanity than any other invention I can think of.  Lets not let that slip away.  If your child or grandchild has a birthday coming up or some other kind of celebration, may I humbly suggest a book as a gift.  Or a gift certificate to a book store.  Remember "when you give a child a book you give them the world."