The Next Step for Literature

E-books are currently the new craze in literature as readers are opting to trade in physical copies for an e-book that they can read on their electronic devices, causing some book suppliers to struggle. With the newly released Byook application it might be even harder for books to compete with the electronic reading experience.

The Byook is an app developed in France that hopes to make reading more interactive. The main goal is to engage readers with animations, pictures and sounds, and to help them immerse themselves completely in a novel.

The first to be created is Sherlock Holmes and the Adventure of the Speckled Band. The story is the same as the original by Sir Arthur Conan Doyle, but pictures appear at the sides and sounds play to help put the readers right into the scene. For example, if a line in the book says that rain is falling, images of actual rain drops fall onto the pages, or if the word "scream" appears, readers can actually hear an ear-splitting scream.

It isn't a completely flawless application, though. While animations may be a good way to stimulate readers, some of them can be quite distracting. What the developers have to remember is that while they are trying to make reading a more engaging experience, people are still reading a book. Claw marks tearing through the pages and the distortion of letters on certain parts only makes it difficult to actually read the story.

In terms of functioning, there are still some bugs to work out as well. Since it's an application where animation appears on every page, the application tends to freeze at certain parts. This can be expected though since this is only the first edition. Nonetheless, if the creators really want this idea to go far, they're definitely going to have to clean it up first.

This may be a way to get people into reading again, and it should be interesting watching the developers try to come up with animations for the billions of books currently in publication, and not to mention the new ones being created every day.

Right now the app is only available for the iPhone and iPad, but with plans to expand to smartphones, these developers might be on to something big. Since there is only one Byook available right now, it's too soon to make any judgment calls. For now, readers will just have to enjoy the Holmes novel and wait to see what else the Byook company has in store.