Umberto Eco on the future of books

Jon Noble writes: “Umberto Eco gave a talk at the Library of Alexandria on the future of the book. The lecture is reported on in Al-Ahram, while the full text of the talk is available at the Bibliotecha Alexandria website.&quot Eco, author of everyone’s favourite medieval monastery library murder mystery, has one of the largest private libraries in the world. He claims that although electronic information will have a niche, the supposed disadvantages of printed books over interactive digital media actually guarantee their survival.