This is a comic by cartoonist Grant Snider depicting the rise of the book of the future: really the regular paper books that we already have. In the nine panels Snider describes how e-readers would, in a futuristic society, inspire the need to revert back to normal books. It makes an ironic statement by parodying the modern excitement of the e-reader. Though most people still read regular books, the e-reader fits into our generation of excessive technology. At this time we are continuing to develop technology, but the cartoon describes how we will be unsatisfied by that technology and and will "create" a new one in going back to our old "device". It parodies the promotion of a new technology by exemplifying the issues of an e-reader, including ones about which people regularly complain. It proposes a solution to that problem by presenting the book of the future, which is really the book of the past. This irony continues to be played out through the cartoon by noting how the book solves the problems of the e-reader in ways that we have already used and taken for granted. Overall, the cartoon amusingly achieves its purpose by reminding people that we already have what we need with our old "technology". Though in the last panel, the cartoon concedes that e-readers are more convenient for travel (especially by jet-pack, in the potential future) it ultimately reminds the audience that while e-readers are useful and good for somethings, in our excitement over them and need for technology, we should not forget the merits of a good, old-fashioned book..
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