Let's take that concept of raw material goods, pages turning, bindings cracking, the smell and feel of leather and pulp and remove it. Let's replace it with the reality that each book went through a painstaking journey through concept to development, and remember that each step was a risk. Publishing is not a rich business. Books are created on the off chance that they will actually make their loss back. Odds are that they won't.
Production is expensive.
Marketing efforts must be cheap. And the audience is very picky. Books should be educational, intellectual, inspirational or for pure escapism. They should sacrifice glory for value. This can certainly be true, but only if we significantly diminish the production cost.