The new phone book’s here! The new phone book’s here!
Between home and work I have four new phone books. Two will go in the landfill, and the other two will replace last year’s and collect dust in a corner. I will defend the print newspaper until the day I die, but there will be no love lost when the phonebook disappears.
May 21st, 2009 at 7:09 pm
The phone book is the dinosaur in my kitchen. I may have opened it twice in the past year. Time to save a tree and say good-bye to this staple of our past.
May 21st, 2009 at 9:04 pm
Wasn’t that a line by Steve Martin in “The Jerk”. God, I loved that movie!
May 21st, 2009 at 9:09 pm
This will come as no surprise to anyone: I still use the phone book. It’s more convenient than firing up the computer, and cheaper than calling directory assistance. What’s not to like?
May 22nd, 2009 at 7:30 am
Defend newspapers but not print Yellow Pages??? sounds inconsistent.
May 22nd, 2009 at 8:50 am
I use the phone book too. I keep the little one in the car – very handy and cheaper than AT&T.
May 22nd, 2009 at 12:59 pm
That phone book you throw away could be worth $25 or more in 20 years on eBay, assuming eBay, and us, are still here.
Phone books are a gold mine to genealogists and other researchers. The info printed in them will be impossible to find on other media in the future.
May 22nd, 2009 at 5:57 pm
Lancer- Thank You.
Diane – I looked for the YouTube video but couldn’t find it. “Johnson. Nathan R. I’m in print! Things are going to start happening to me now!”
CJ – I challenge you to a race.
Kenc – I read the newspaper leisurely as I sit on my back porch; I don’t read the yellow pages in that same way. Granted if I am in an out of town hotel somewhere I’ll use it to find a local pizza parlor.
Emerge – I can see how one in the car could be useful, but I don’t have a cell phone.
JW – I had the same thoughts as I wrote this post, but I’m still going to throw them away and likely buy them back at great expense in the future.
May 22nd, 2009 at 6:04 pm
PI — Okay, you’re on. But you have to start with the computer off.
May 23rd, 2009 at 7:39 pm
An old editor told me once to never throw away a phone book. Old phone books are invaluable as a resource. People who are unlisted one year might not have been unlisted the previous year. Also, an old phone book can answer the question: “Say, what was the name of the bar that used to be where ‘Bullwinkle’s’ is now?’”