The Year The Book Became A Luxury Object

This month, The New York Times reported that the features unique to e-books had largely fallen away. A format that had originally promised all manner of functionalities was now fairly restrained, similar to an actual book - goodbye, public comments on books, multimedia elements and hyperlinks! Hello, potential embedded author autographs, just like the signed first edition on your shelf.

As e-books are stripping down to the bare-bones of what is actually book-like, physical books are growing more sumptuous and fetishistic.