Books are heavier than my ray-gun! says Jeff Bezos

In an interview with Walt Mossberg, the Wall Street Journal‘s great technology reporter, Jeff Bezos continues to discuss ebooks in such a profoundly pathetic way that it makes even those of us who like ebooks cringe.

Two excerpts that tell you what you need to know. The first one:

Sometimes big, heavy hardcover books do break you out of the flow because you get hand fatigue. Or turning pages can be loud if you have a spouse sleeping next to you. There are things about physical books that we’re accustomed to but that actually aren’t very good.

And the second:

MR. MOSSBERG: When I did my Kindle column, I got quite a lot of email from people who were talking about the tactile feel of the book — the hard-to-describe intangibles around reading a paper book that you lose on an electronic device.

MR. BEZOS: I’m sure people love their horses, too. But you’re not going to keep riding your horse to work just because you love your horse. It’s our job to build something that is better than a physical book. The reason we love physical books is because we have had so many great experiences with that object in our hands that we have nice associations with it.

We’re not trying to displace people’s love of that physical object that is the book. It’s a hallowed invention. The thing to keep in mind is what’s really important is not the container, it’s the narrative.

As long as that narrative is contained on a Kindle, natch.