The Guardian reports that a new format of book has come out. It’s small and light, and of a size to slip easily into a pocket. People read it from top to bottom, then flip down to the next page. Oh, and it’s not electronic—it’s paper.
This is the new “flipback” book—originated in Holland, and now spreading to Spain, France, and soon the UK. It seems to be modeled after paperbacks, except smaller—approximately Gideon New Testament size, and with the same sort of extremely-thin page. But instead of turning pages from side to side, you hold it vertically and flip the pages up as you read them. And the spine is made so that the book can lie open for reading without requiring a hand to hold it open.
It certainly looks like a novel (pardon the pun) idea, and it will slip into one’s pocket better than a Kindle. It could be useful for paper reading on the go. But I doubt that it will be enough to “save” the paper book from the ravages of the e-reader.
Flipbacks may address some issues/problems with reading print books and, therefore, may replace some versions of print versions, e.g., trade paperbacks. Flipbacks do not seem to provide much of the benefits people say they like about eReaders and eBooks and, therefore, I can not see them replacing eReaders and eBooks. I can see smartphones replacing eReaders as the platform for eBooks.
Well, in Germany there is not such a big buzz about eBooks, so I think, that Flipback Books can provide benefits to Readers and they will abandon for the possibility to read eBooks. What do you think?