I'm one of the biggest proponents of ebooks around, but, like most people here, I grew up with physical books. From the Hardy Boys to Redwall to Shannara to Wheel of Time, I always had a book in my hands, back in the day. I've come to prefer the benefits of ebooks, but I'm not immune to the charm of physical books, and I still maintain a small-by-this-board's-standards bookshelf. I honestly hope that physical books always remain available for those who want them, I just don't like to see people fighting the move to superior technology solely for nostalgic reasons.

Oh, as to the bookshelf issue, though, I would point out that it's possible to display digital libraries in some pretty awesome ways. You should see my XBMC-based movie collection, for example. It's extremely slick, pops up instantly on any screen in the house, and looks WAY better than a shelf full of DVD cases. Bookshelves are obviously higher class than DVD shelves, but still, just because books become digital doesn't mean they have to be locked away in a directory of .txt files that no one ever looks at.