Do Books Have a Future? (OLLI)

Is there a future for the printed word in hard-copy books? Can they compete in an increasingly digital world? Or are we going to become an oral-visual culture in which streaming devices, social media, and AI-generated images dominate? This presentation will examine the history of books from ancient times to the Gutenberg printing press, from the rise of books as a form of mass communication in the early 19th century to their current state. We will explore the function of books in thinking, learning, philosophy, politics, social change, and entertainment—why and how they mattered? and what, if any, role they will play in our fast-moving digital information age.