{"id":339087,"date":"2017-04-23T20:11:25","date_gmt":"2017-04-23T12:11:25","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/techcrunch.com\/?p=1480075"},"modified":"2017-04-23T20:11:25","modified_gmt":"2017-04-23T12:11:25","slug":"books-and-roses","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/people.utm.my\/asmawisham\/books-and-roses\/","title":{"rendered":"Books and roses"},"content":{"rendered":"<div id=\"\"> <a href=\"https:\/\/techcrunch.com\/2017\/04\/23\/farmdrop\/\" class=\"next-link\" data-omni-sm=\"art_nextstory\"\/><\/p>\n<p>Next Story<\/p>\n<p><h4 class=\"next-title\">Online grocery platform Farmdrop raises \u00a37M Series A led by\u00a0Atomico<\/h4>\n<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<div readability=\"112.79197411003\">\n<p id=\"speakable-summary\">Anyone who thinks\u00a0paper books are dead has never been in\u00a0a Barcelona bookshop the day before <em>Sant Jordi<\/em>.\u00a0The Patron Saint festival is Catalunya\u2019s equivalent of Valentine\u2019s day. But as well as giving long-stemmed red roses\u00a0people give books. Lots and lots of books. Some \u20ac20 million worth of books are sold (gifted)\u00a0on the day itself.<\/p>\n<p>April 23 also happens to be\u00a0<a target=\"_blank\" href=\"http:\/\/www.worldbookday.com\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">World Book day<\/a> \u2014 a more recent celebration of ink spilt on the printed page. But in Barcelona today is\u00a0<em>El Dia de Sant Jordi<\/em>.<\/p>\n<p>In the days leading up to the festival every bookshop in the Catalan capital is packed\u00a0with people,\u00a0tables piled high with shiny paperbacks perpetually\u00a0ringed by\u00a0shoppers seeking\u00a0the perfect literary\u00a0gift. Stop for a moment to thumb through\u00a0a title and you\u2019ll invariably be jostled aside by the sheer force of foot traffic as book buyers\u00a0criss-cross each others\u2019 alphabetic desires.<\/p>\n<p>This year the bone-white balconies of Gaud\u00ed\u2019s <em>Casa Batll\u00f3<\/em>\u00a0have been dressed in\u00a0skirts of\u00a0red roses to mark\u00a0the occasion, catching the eyes\u00a0of a smattering of tourists who stand in <em>Passeig de Gracia<\/em>\u00a0taking what I imagine they believe\u00a0to be romantic selfies. Meanwhile,\u00a0across the road in\u00a0the book-lined aisles of\u00a0<em>Casa del Libro,<\/em> another expression of love:\u00a0the cash registers\u00a0are under siege like it\u2019s Christmas eve.<\/p>\n<p>According to 2015\u00a0statistics from the\u00a0<a target=\"_blank\" href=\"http:\/\/ajuntament.barcelona.cat\/comerc\/en\/current-news\/positive-results-sales-during-sant-jordi\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">city government<\/a>, <em>Sant Jordi<\/em>\u00a0represents between 5% and 8% of regional booksellers\u2019 annual turnover. Some 1.5 million books were sold on the day alone that year. This year I watch Saturday shoppers who\u00a0have successfully made their last minute gift selections stand\u00a0like communion takers\u00a0in queues that snake\u00a0up to twenty people deep\u00a0into the aisles. You really have to wonder how many more books would be sold if the payment process wasn\u2019t such a bottleneck and could rise\u00a0to meet the demand.<\/p>\n<aside class=\"inset inset-sm inset-section\">\n<section class=\"aside section video-aside crunchreport collapse collapse-adjacent\" data-video-id=\"58fa86bd955a312740bcde3b\">\n<h2 class=\"collapse-title section-title\">Latest <span>Crunch Report<\/span><\/h2>\n<div class=\"collapse-body cf\">\n<ul class=\"vid-list cf\">\n<li class=\"block vid-feature\" data-lightbox-omniture=\"crunchreport\" readability=\"-2\">\n<div class=\"block block-inset\" readability=\"7\"><a href=\"https:\/\/techcrunch.com\/video\/quora-valued-at-1-8b-crunch-report\/58fa86bd955a312740bcde3b\/?ncid=rightrail_cr\"><img decoding=\"async\" src=\"https:\/\/img.vidible.tv\/prod\/2017-04\/21\/58fa86bd955a312740bcde3b\/58fa87b0e9399f327d5fd285_o_U_v1.png?w=300&#038;h=170\" alt=\"Quora Valued At $1.8B | Crunch Report\" data-lightbox-url=\"https:\/\/techcrunch.com\/video\/quora-valued-at-1-8b-crunch-report\/58fa86bd955a312740bcde3b\/lightbox\"\/><\/a><\/p>\n<p><h3>Quora Valued At $1.8B | Crunch Report<\/h3>\n<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p><a href=\"https:\/\/techcrunch.com\/video\/crunchreport\/?ncid=rightrail_crmore\" class=\"text-btn\" data-omni-sm=\"rightrail_crmore\">Watch More Episodes<\/a><\/div>\n<\/section>\n<\/aside>\n<p><em>Casa del Libro<\/em> is Spain\u2019s largest bookstore chain, so I\u2019m not too surprised to find it has\u00a0an e-book section \u2014 where it sells its own e-reader (called the Tagus). On the eve of\u00a0<em>Sant Jordi<\/em>,\u00a0this\u00a0brightly lit but decidedly <em>peque\u00f1o<\/em>\u00a0corner looks very forlorn indeed as shoppers push past it looking for paper. It goes without saying that no one wants a lover who gifts\u00a0an e-book. Perhaps one\u00a0reason\u00a0why <a target=\"_blank\" href=\"https:\/\/www.theguardian.com\/media\/2016\/may\/13\/printed-book-sales-ebooks-decline\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">sales of paper books look to have\u00a0picked up<\/a>, and\u00a0<a target=\"_blank\" href=\"http:\/\/publiclibrariesonline.org\/2016\/04\/the-myth-of-the-e-book-plateau\/\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">e-books may have plateaued<\/a>\u2026<\/p>\n<p><img decoding=\"async\" src=\"https:\/\/pbs.twimg.com\/media\/CksHcoUWsAAyOyr.jpg\"\/><\/p>\n<p>In smaller\u00a0bookshops in Barcelona extra staff are standing by to\u00a0individually wrap the books you buy\u00a0\u2014 like the\u00a0barrio\u00a0bookstore\u00a0I wander into later,\u00a0leaving\u00a0with a copy of Pier Paolo Pasolini\u2019s <em>Po\u00e9sie en forme de rose<\/em> freshly bound\u00a0in\u00a0red paper. The shop\u2019s\u00a0backroom has stacks of\u00a0antique books right up to the rafters and is busy\u00a0with browsers long\u00a0into the evening. A pianist in the corner provides a live\u00a0score. It\u2019s clear\u00a0<em>Sant Jordi<\/em> is not just about buying books; it\u2019s a festival of mood and literature. Around the city in the days leading up to April 23 writers give talks, read poems, tell stories.<\/p>\n<p>On\u00a0the day\u00a0itself the streets fill up\u00a0with even more people and color as book sellers\u00a0and rose sellers man their\u00a0tables and buckets, and couples walk hand in hand between. Rose stalls outnumber book stalls by about 4:1 even though petals aren\u2019t always\u00a0cheaper than paper. Many stalls\u00a0are selling in aid of\u00a0a local cause like a school trip or a charity such as\u00a0Save the Children. In\u00a0<em>Pla\u00e7a<\/em> de <em>Catalunya<\/em>\u00a0you might be lucky enough to stumble\u00a0across a favorite writer signing copies of their latest book. Equally\u00a0you can savor\u00a0strolling through the calmer buzz of a local barrio\u00a0turned out together into\u00a0the streets.\u00a0<em>Sant Jordi<\/em>\u00a0is a celebration of how something\u00a0that\u2019s bound within can be\u00a0displayed without, be it inside the pages of book\u00a0or the unfurled beauty of a flower. It\u2019s a celebration of\u00a0the energy that goes\u00a0into the process of creation, individually and collectively. It\u2019s\u00a0as much\u00a0about emotion and sensation as it is about books and reading.<\/p>\n<p>I\u2019ve lost count of the number of articles I\u2019ve seen asking whether\u00a0e-books equal the death of paper. To my mind\u00a0that\u2019s like asking\u00a0if a digital screen means the end of roses because\u00a0you can digitally display a flower\u00a0on a screen. Clearly there\u2019s a place for screens, and there\u2019s a place for paper. Two different formats, two\u00a0different messages \u2014 and a whole range of uses and utilities. Buying a book can be about accessing\u00a0information as\u00a0you can access information via a screen. Equally it can be about something radically\u00a0different \u2014 like saying how\u00a0you feel or what you hope without needing to articulate that\u00a0exactly. The medium can\u00a0be an essential part of the message, especially so where gifts are concerned. Common sense says\u00a0a digital rose does not smell as sweet as the real deal. Nor does an e-book contain\u00a0the depth and history of paper.<\/p>\n<aside class=\"inset inset-sm inset-section\">\n<div class=\"section aside crunchbase-cluster collapse\">\n<h3 class=\"section-title collapse-title\">Crunchbase<\/h3>\n<\/p><\/div>\n<\/aside>\n<p>Maybe someone, somewhere will invent a better e-reader that does not lock\u00a0books inside a single-format\u00a0push-button frame. It would also need a new type of\u00a0e-paper that feels and acts much more like the real thing. Something that could be bundled into stacks\u00a0and have readers\u00a0scribble on it, bend corners, flip pages back and forth, feel the heft and weight of the book and be able to contemplate their place\u00a0in it. We\u2019re not there yet. Especially as\u00a0technology loves\u00a0an\u00a0upgrade, not a patina. Perpetual erasure is very hard to get sentimental about. It\u00a0would also make for a very nihilistic\u00a0kind of fiesta. And\u00a0that\u2019s before you even consider\u00a0<a target=\"_blank\" href=\"https:\/\/www.theguardian.com\/technology\/2015\/feb\/23\/reading-writing-on-paper-better-for-brain-concentration\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">suggestions<\/a>\u00a0the human brain might actually retain and comprehend\u00a0information rather better when reading and writing on paper vs screens. (Which \u2014 if true \u2014 would really give paper a cutting edge.)<\/p>\n<p>There\u2019s also so much space\u00a0for <a target=\"_blank\" href=\"https:\/\/digitalshakespeares.wordpress.com\/2017\/04\/21\/aura-aliveness-and-art\/\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">interesting interplay<\/a> between the formats we humans\u00a0love to engage with (in this case screens\u00a0and paper). Which means there\u2019s room for cross overs from digital to print too, just as there has obviously been\u00a0plenty of <a target=\"_blank\" href=\"http:\/\/www.telegraph.co.uk\/finance\/newsbysector\/mediatechnologyandtelecoms\/media\/10333136\/Lloyds-List-abandons-print-after-279-years.html\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">publications going the other way<\/a>. Here\u2019s one local and pertinent\u00a0case in point:\u00a0<em><a target=\"_blank\" href=\"http:\/\/yofuiaegb.com\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">Yo Fu\u00ed a EGB<\/a><\/em>\u00a0is<em>\u00a0<\/em>a <a target=\"_blank\" href=\"https:\/\/www.facebook.com\/yofuiaegb\/\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">Facebook page<\/a>\u00a0set up\u00a0in 2011 by two Generation X Spanish guys, Jorge D\u00edaz and\u00a0Javier Ikazt, who started out by\u00a0posting photos\u00a0and videos of stuff they remembered from being kids\u00a0in the 1980s and going\u00a0to a typical Spanish\u00a0elementary school. If that sounds a bit niche, <em>cuidado<\/em>, it\u2019s not. The Facebook page has more than 1.2M likes, and the interest generated from <a target=\"_blank\" href=\"http:\/\/www.lavanguardia.com\/ocio\/20131216\/54395500698\/entrevista-yo-fui-a-egb-javier-ikaz-jorge-diaz.html\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">the community they built digitally<\/a>\u00a0has been transformed\u00a0into multiple best-selling <a target=\"_blank\" href=\"https:\/\/www.amazon.es\/Yo-Fui-EGB-OBRAS-DIVERSAS\/dp\/8401346711\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">(print) books<\/a>, board games and now even a <a target=\"_blank\" href=\"http:\/\/www.elmundo.es\/television\/2016\/12\/20\/585840f6e2704e3d4f8b462e.html\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">TV series<\/a>. (Yes, there are e-books too.) So an engaged digital community that remade long lost physical ones has been successfully repurposed into multiple different\u00a0formats\u00a0\u2014 including \u2018old school\u2019\u00a0ink and paper media. Really this\u00a0should surprise no one.<\/p>\n<p>Or, if I may put it another way, a\u00a0rose is a rose is a rose\u00a0is a rose. tl;dr: sometimes you want the real rose, sometimes a beautiful picture of roses\u00a0will do.<\/p>\n<p><a href=\"https:\/\/techcrunch.com\/2017\/04\/23\/books-and-roses\/photo-22-04-2017-20-01-36\/\" rel=\"attachment wp-att-1480142\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"aligncenter wp-image-1480142 size-large\" src=\"https:\/\/tctechcrunch2011.files.wordpress.com\/2017\/04\/photo-22-04-2017-20-01-36.jpg?w=510&#038;h=680\" alt=\"\" width=\"510\" height=\"680\" srcset=\"https:\/\/tctechcrunch2011.files.wordpress.com\/2017\/04\/photo-22-04-2017-20-01-36.jpg?w=510&#038;h=680 510w, https:\/\/tctechcrunch2011.files.wordpress.com\/2017\/04\/photo-22-04-2017-20-01-36.jpg?w=1020&#038;h=1360 1020w, https:\/\/tctechcrunch2011.files.wordpress.com\/2017\/04\/photo-22-04-2017-20-01-36.jpg?w=113&#038;h=150 113w, https:\/\/tctechcrunch2011.files.wordpress.com\/2017\/04\/photo-22-04-2017-20-01-36.jpg?w=225&#038;h=300 225w, https:\/\/tctechcrunch2011.files.wordpress.com\/2017\/04\/photo-22-04-2017-20-01-36.jpg?w=768&#038;h=1024 768w\" sizes=\"(max-width: 510px) 100vw, 510px\"\/><\/a><\/p>\n<\/p><\/div>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" width=\"680\" height=\"455\" src=\"https:\/\/tctechcrunch2011.files.wordpress.com\/2017\/04\/p1050529-copy.jpg?w=680\" class=\"attachment-large size-large wp-post-image\" alt=\"\" srcset=\"https:\/\/tctechcrunch2011.files.wordpress.com\/2017\/04\/p1050529-copy.jpg?w=680 680w, https:\/\/tctechcrunch2011.files.wordpress.com\/2017\/04\/p1050529-copy.jpg?w=1360 1360w, https:\/\/tctechcrunch2011.files.wordpress.com\/2017\/04\/p1050529-copy.jpg?w=150 150w, https:\/\/tctechcrunch2011.files.wordpress.com\/2017\/04\/p1050529-copy.jpg?w=300 300w, https:\/\/tctechcrunch2011.files.wordpress.com\/2017\/04\/p1050529-copy.jpg?w=768 768w\" sizes=\"(max-width: 680px) 100vw, 680px\" \/>&nbsp;Anyone who thinks paper books are dead has never been in a Barcelona bookshop the day before Sant Jordi. The Patron Saint festival is Catalunya&#8217;s equivalent of Valentine&#8217;s day. But as well as giving long-stemmed red roses people give books. Lots and lots of books. Some \u20ac20 million worth of books are sold (gifted) on the day itself. <a href=\"https:\/\/techcrunch.com\/2017\/04\/23\/books-and-roses\/?ncid=rss\">Read More<\/a><\/p>\n<div class=\"feedflare\">\n<a href=\"http:\/\/feeds.feedburner.com\/~ff\/Techcrunch?a=YYTkufORdw4:ssfqgQGpQp8:2mJPEYqXBVI\"><img decoding=\"async\" src=\"http:\/\/feeds.feedburner.com\/~ff\/Techcrunch?d=2mJPEYqXBVI\" border=\"0\"><\/img><\/a> <a href=\"http:\/\/feeds.feedburner.com\/~ff\/Techcrunch?a=YYTkufORdw4:ssfqgQGpQp8:7Q72WNTAKBA\"><img decoding=\"async\" src=\"http:\/\/feeds.feedburner.com\/~ff\/Techcrunch?d=7Q72WNTAKBA\" border=\"0\"><\/img><\/a> <a href=\"http:\/\/feeds.feedburner.com\/~ff\/Techcrunch?a=YYTkufORdw4:ssfqgQGpQp8:yIl2AUoC8zA\"><img decoding=\"async\" src=\"http:\/\/feeds.feedburner.com\/~ff\/Techcrunch?d=yIl2AUoC8zA\" border=\"0\"><\/img><\/a> <a href=\"http:\/\/feeds.feedburner.com\/~ff\/Techcrunch?a=YYTkufORdw4:ssfqgQGpQp8:-BTjWOF_DHI\"><img decoding=\"async\" src=\"http:\/\/feeds.feedburner.com\/~ff\/Techcrunch?i=YYTkufORdw4:ssfqgQGpQp8:-BTjWOF_DHI\" border=\"0\"><\/img><\/a> <a href=\"http:\/\/feeds.feedburner.com\/~ff\/Techcrunch?a=YYTkufORdw4:ssfqgQGpQp8:D7DqB2pKExk\"><img decoding=\"async\" src=\"http:\/\/feeds.feedburner.com\/~ff\/Techcrunch?i=YYTkufORdw4:ssfqgQGpQp8:D7DqB2pKExk\" border=\"0\"><\/img><\/a> <a href=\"http:\/\/feeds.feedburner.com\/~ff\/Techcrunch?a=YYTkufORdw4:ssfqgQGpQp8:qj6IDK7rITs\"><img decoding=\"async\" src=\"http:\/\/feeds.feedburner.com\/~ff\/Techcrunch?d=qj6IDK7rITs\" border=\"0\"><\/img><\/a>\n<\/div>\n<p><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" src=\"http:\/\/feeds.feedburner.com\/~r\/Techcrunch\/~4\/YYTkufORdw4\" height=\"1\" width=\"1\" alt=\"\"\/> <\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":5817,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_et_pb_use_builder":"","_et_pb_old_content":"","_et_gb_content_width":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[23,25],"tags":[59,66,26],"class_list":["post-339087","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-media","category-technology","tag-media","tag-techcrunch","tag-technology"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/people.utm.my\/asmawisham\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/339087","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/people.utm.my\/asmawisham\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/people.utm.my\/asmawisham\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/people.utm.my\/asmawisham\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/5817"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/people.utm.my\/asmawisham\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=339087"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/people.utm.my\/asmawisham\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/339087\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/people.utm.my\/asmawisham\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=339087"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/people.utm.my\/asmawisham\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=339087"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/people.utm.my\/asmawisham\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=339087"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}