Some say that Life's the Thing. But others prefer a good read. The book from the hole in the wall is the latest chapter in the long read of literacy. It frees the reader from the tyranny of publishers, critics, catalogues, literary editors, booksellers, lending libraries and the rest of the bien-pensant librocracy. So does it supply a truly democratic digital library at Everyman's finger-tip? Power to the Reader?

In the beginning authors such as “Homer” recited their books to the audience, with stock topoi (conventional epithets) such as “silver-footed Thetis”, to give them breathing space to remember what came next. Then writing was invented. Professional scribes took on the book and perfected regular script as well as palimpsests, haplography and dittography to provide work for future textual scholars. Calligraphy and illumination produced beautiful books for illiterate aristocrats. Gutenberg and Caxton turned book-making into an industry as well as an art. And Tyndale made the Bible legible for the simplest ploughboy.

The first printers used pincers to build up words letter by letter. The industrial revolution mass-marketed the book. The Times played its part with John Walter's rotary steam press. Paperbacks empowered students as well as ploughboys to build and discard their personal libraries.

The digital (fingertip) revolution can squeeze the text of dozens of books into a little box, though you do not experience the sensual anticipation of turning a paper page, and it is dangerous to read in the bath.

The instant book from the hole in the wall is a welcome addition to Bookmanism. But it will not destroy the attractions of finding an unknown book by serendipity on a bookshelf. How do I know what to read until I see what is there? Orders for tricky books such as The Annals of Quintus Ennius by Otto Skutch, or Finnegans Wake may disturb the flushpots of Euston and the hanging garments of Marylebone.

Printouts for long books such as Clarissa or A Dance to the Music of Time may create inappropriate book rage in the queue. When Disraeli wanted to read a novel, he wrote one. The book in the wall would have saved him time, and us some Beta novels. Blackwell's long ARM (Automatic Reading Machine) may spit out the words at the press of a button. But no machine can provide the reader with an understanding. Ex libris, whether by stylus, or pen, or print, or computer, comes understanding. And happiness.

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