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In this article, we analyse alternative narratives that surround the possibility of the disappearance of print books, dominated by fetishism, fears about the end of humanism and ideas of techno-fundamentalist progress. We argue that in order to comprehend such narratives, we need to inscribe them in the broader history of media. The emergence of new media, in fact, has often been accompanied by narratives about the possible disappearance of older media: the introduction of television, for instance, inspired claims about the forthcoming death of film and radio. As a recurrent narrative shaping the reception of media innovation, the myth of the disappearing medium helps us to make sense of the transformations that media change provokes in our everyday life.<\/jats:p>","DOI":"10.1177\/1461444815586984","type":"journal-article","created":{"date-parts":[[2015,5,19]],"date-time":"2015-05-19T20:30:15Z","timestamp":1432067415000},"page":"2379-2394","update-policy":"https:\/\/doi.org\/10.1177\/sage-journals-update-policy","source":"Crossref","is-referenced-by-count":32,"title":["E-readers and the death of the book: Or, new media and the myth of the disappearing medium"],"prefix":"10.1177","volume":"18","author":[{"given":"Andrea","family":"Ballatore","sequence":"first","affiliation":[{"name":"University of California, Santa Barbara, USA"}],"role":[{"role":"author","vocabulary":"crossref"}]},{"given":"Simone","family":"Natale","sequence":"additional","affiliation":[{"name":"Humboldt-Universit\u00e4t zu Berlin, Germany"}],"role":[{"role":"author","vocabulary":"crossref"}]}],"member":"179","published-online":{"date-parts":[[2016,7,9]]},"reference":[{"key":"bibr1-1461444815586984","doi-asserted-by":"publisher","DOI":"10.1017\/CBO9780511819582"},{"key":"bibr2-1461444815586984","doi-asserted-by":"publisher","DOI":"10.5040\/9781350036048"},{"key":"bibr3-1461444815586984","first-page":"231","volume-title":"Theorien des Medienwandels","author":"Balbi G","year":"2015"},{"key":"bibr4-1461444815586984","doi-asserted-by":"publisher","DOI":"10.1093\/oso\/9780195064834.001.0001"},{"key":"bibr5-1461444815586984","volume-title":"A Splendor of Letters: The Permanence of Books in an Impermanent World","author":"Basbanes NA","year":"2003"},{"key":"bibr6-1461444815586984","first-page":"217","volume-title":"Illuminations","author":"Benjamin W","year":"1968"},{"key":"bibr7-1461444815586984","volume-title":"The Wealth of Networks: How Social Production Transforms Markets and Freedom","author":"Benkler Y","year":"2006"},{"key":"bibr8-1461444815586984","volume-title":"The Gutenberg Elegies: The Fate of Reading in an Electronic Age","author":"Birkerts S","year":"1994"},{"key":"bibr9-1461444815586984","doi-asserted-by":"publisher","DOI":"10.1177\/1354856506061550"},{"key":"bibr10-1461444815586984","volume-title":"Technology and the Character of Contemporary Life: A Philosophical Inquiry","author":"Borgmann A","year":"1984"},{"key":"bibr11-1461444815586984","unstructured":"Bowker (2012) Self-Publishing in the United States, 2006\u20132011: Print vs. ebook. 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