I really, really, unjustifiably (?) hate the word "app"

I'm not the only modern Boy Scout. The iTunes store (and the BSA) is currently offering a downloadable edition of the 12th edition of the Handbook.

I'm conflicted about this, largely because of my secret feelings that (1) the iPhone is an unnecessary gadget largely because (2) if I had one, I would do nothing but spend my entire day playing computerized Skee-ball. Also, though, I have some mixed feelings about the direction a lot of things with scouting are going -- and, not insigificantly, the way the Handbook has changed. Go check out the virtual handbook at bsahandbook.org and take a look -- is it a nicer-looking, better-designed document? Sure. But a lot of what makes the original Handbook great (the summaries of personal health and world history, the encyclopedia renditions of farming knowledge, the spectacular section about fending off mad dogs) is gone, replace by pull quotes and pictures of fresh-scrubbed boys white-water rafting.

Maybe I'm just ridiculous (and often I am), but I wonder if this shift in the Handbook, if its lower reading level and brighter colors, is more significant. What we're seeing, really, is the removal of what made the Handbook great in the first place, and what makes is so all-fired interesting to me right now. (For the record, expect another edition of Handbook Book Club in the next few days.) Sure, you can make the argument (and I hear this a lot, as a teacher) that our responsibility is to put material in a format that's understandable to the reader, or that, well, kids today, they just read differently.

That's crap.

Here's the real story, somewhat modified to include my own view of reality. When you see widespread poor reading, a big, big chunk of what you're seeing is a lack of challenging, interesting material. If we cut out all the best bits from the original Handbook, repackage them in neon and Photoshop, then yeah, that's going to be what kids read. Because it's what we're giving them, and because it's easy. The original version had some big words and some ridiculous ideas, sure, but there's a lot of merit in giving our young Scouts something that's a little more interesting, and something that's a lot more useful.

Anyway. The iPhone app. I said I was conflicted, and I meant it -- because really, my issue with the app Handbook isn't with the app-ness, but with the Handbook's modification to remove a large amount of the actual content. For what it is, the app Handbook has a lot of merit -- it packs lightly, it's easily portable, and it's searchable for quick "OH MY GOD WHAT SHOULD I DO WHEN I'M BEING CHASED BY A MAD DOG" situations. Of course, it won't survive a fall into those rapids the Handbook boys are shooting, but then, the paper Handbook might encounter some trouble there, too.

Enough curmudgeon'ing for one day, pals. What do you think? I know that I'm not fully valid on my reading-and-kids theory, but that's because I was a dorky, bookish one and most kids are not. So tell me where I'm going wrong.