I wonder if part of the “decline of books” is the way they’re bound. Most books, floppy or firm, do not lie peacefully flat. You turn the page of a book lying before you, and as you remove a hand to eat a bite of cereal, or to cut into a burrito, the page you just turned to flips itself back over. Then more pages. Unless you firmly crease each page as you open it — which feels violent, exhausting — the book is always trying to shut itself. Shows and movies, you start them and they just go. They beg you to stay. But the book closes off, adds friction, more than simple attention, it requires handling.
You can feel romantic about this, but I think it’s a problem.
Books can be made to lie flat. I have a notebook with a normal-looking spine, but when opened, and maybe with just a bit of pressure, it lies calmly flat. Waiting, welcoming. Take your time, it says. Don’t rush. Think at your own pace. It’s the best notebook I’ve ever had. And it cost less than a moleskine, even though it came from Japan.