The day after Black Friday, I saw a news report about how we are spending money this season. I ignore these reports to avoid gloom and doom, but this particular one caught my attention. It dealt with the demise of books.

The report made me unhappy because I like books and cannot remember a time when I didn’t. I like them so much that I’ve written two, and more are coming. Between books and experience, I’ve learned most of what I know.

I confess that as a boy of small stature, I carried big books for two reasons other than learning: The first was to impress girls and the second was to use as weapons against the bullies who infested my life. More than one book went back to the school library with torn pages or stains on the cover.

The report said that printed books are dying. Since September, sales were off 40 percent. I assumed it was economic, that people had less discretionary income to spend on entertainment, but I was wrong. In fact, they are spending their reading money on electronic devices.

The disembodied television voice went on to say electronic reader sales were up 125 percent from last year. The report extolled the virtues of e-books and their availability. Most cost less than $10, with a vast library of classics available for free. It is very tempting, but no thanks.

I can’t come down fully against e-books, because my titles are available as such, and I’ve also downloaded reader apps for my phone, but I’m not happy with either. When I first saw my work as an e-book, I was disappointed.

All the pages were there and the story was the same, but something was wrong. It was the same experience when I downloaded books to my phone.

I wasn’t able to turn pages back and forth, I couldn’t write notes in the margins that add much entertainment to me as I cryptically scrawl something like, “Oh yeah” in answer to some action in a scene. I missed the heft of a book in my hands. Maybe that dates back to the days of my using a book as a weapon, but it didn’t feel right putting the phone in my pocket rather than carrying a book in hand, but those are not my biggest objections.

What I missed most was the smell. I don’t think I’ve ever opened a book without fanning the pages close to my face to inhale the fragrance of ink on paper. What an intoxicant! I do the same with newsprint. Until they make the e-readers smell like a freshly printed book or newspaper, I’m not buying it. Besides, what bully is going to back down to a kid swinging an e-reader?

When computer technology was taking over our lives during the ‘80s and ‘90s, the prediction was that by the year 2000, we would be a paperless society. Guess what? People still wanted it printed out and paper usage doubled.

My prediction for books is the same. Bullies beware: books are not going away and if you don’t believe me, read Ray Bradbury’s “Fahrenheit 451.” I wonder; at what temperature does an e-book combust?

David Wilson Atwood is a local freelance writer whose human-interest columns offer a unique perspective. He may be e-mailed at david@starchasers.us.