Pretty much says it all in my title! The blurb is:

[indent]Books: The Last Chapter?

With the rise of electronic books, is the final chapter about to be written in the long love story between books and their readers? Will the app take the place of the traditional book?

Alan Yentob discusses the subject with writers Alan Bennett, Douglas Coupland, Ewan Morrison and Gary Shteyngart, publisher Gail Rebuck, agent Ed Victor and librarian Rachael Morrison. They also smell books, making precise notes about the distinctive aroma of each.[/indent]

Not too sure what to make of the whole book-sniffing thing but very interesting topic.

Thanks for posting, Alexia I'll try and remember to watch that.

Is book sniffing the new wine tasting?? New books smell lovely when they've just come in from the printers; we always sniff new deliveries here! Not sure I would with books that have been around for a while, mind...

Michelle

Fascinating programme and it made me feel a whole lot better about the whole E-book thing.

Still not sure why that woman spent her days smelling books!

I thought the Random House publisher had a very good attitude to the changes that are inevitably going to happen. Unsurprisingly, out of her, Ed Victor and the author, it was the latter who was most concerned.

Loved that Espresso bookshop.

Thanks for the heads-up, Alexia.

Hi Petal - glad you enjoyed it - I've been watching it as a recording and am only partway through but like you, I was surprised and impressed by the attitude of the Random House rep (and baffled by the whole book-sniffing thing!).

One interesting thing that came up was the existence of the Institute for the Future of the Book, "a think and do tank exploring the future of the book". Here's a link to the UK branch.