The year is 2014. A bearded man with strange forearm tattoos materialises in your boardroom, claiming to come from the future. How he got there isn't clear, although he's riding what looks like the bastard child of a single gear 'fixie' road bike and a mainframe computer. He wears jeggings. He tells you that in 2017 the sky is falling and that sales of physical books have overtaken those of ebooks. You tell him to bugger off back to Shoreditch and whatever he's been smoking, then you return to your brainstorm session and your bold plans for a Google Glass-inspired, augmented reality reader experience.
Fast forward to March 2017 and lo and behold, you find that your time traveler friend was telling the truth. Sales of books (touchy feely books) have increased by 4% year on year. eBooks have gone south by the same margin.
This is not the future we expected. What gives?
