Books are competing for shelf space at home

Bookcases are in transition, just like the people who own them. The printed word no longer needs paper, and paper no longer needs stiffened linen or leather to contain it and be a … book.

Rows of decorative spines with titles stamped in gold or black — those advertisements of a household’s taste and personality lined up in view — might actually start looking a bit too 20th century for people hurtling themselves into a paperless future.

Or not.