The world seems to be moving towards eBooks.
At this point, Amazon sells more eBooks than paper books. There are now multiple devices available at all different price points for purchasing, storing, reading, and sharing these books. In my own unscientific sampling, people who take the early morning train with me seem to be gradually converting to reading from little tablets in their hands rather than the old-fashioned paper books
An eBook is a great innovation. One can store a whole library of books in the memory of a little device. They can be downloaded on a whim and discarded without leaving a trace. One cannot think of an environmentally sounder way to exercise one’s mind. Add to that all the benefits of having built in dictionaries and such, what is not to like in an eBook?
Hmmm.
Why is it then I keep buying paper books? Once again, as I mentioned in my previous post, I am not a Luddite and I do use my iPad, and sometimes iPhone, to read magazines and newspapers. It is with books that I seem to have drawn a line.
Yes, I like the feel of holding a paper book. However, this nostalgic, and often cited, reason feels like an excuse that does not fully answer why I like books.
I think the explanation lies in what I do with a paper book when I am done reading it. It ends up on one of my bookshelves. I like gazing at the bookshelves and think about the contents of individual books as I notice them individually. I like to randomly pick up and leaf through books. Some of these are coffee table books with beautiful large pictures (generally of mountains or some barren land, in my case) that continue to fascinate me.
Try to do all that with a Kindle.
Even more important is the fact that visitors to my house look at my books and sometimes even show interest in what I am reading. I let people judge me by what I am reading. I jealously guard my books, making sure that the borrowed ones are returned. This is even though I may not read most of them again. Why would I do that were it not for the fact that these books on my shelves contribute to my personal branding!
Until they come out with innovations that satisfy these other reasons, it is going to be paper books for me.
Subscribe to:
Post Comments (Atom)
eBooks can be discarded without leaving a trace but not the gadgets used to download them. I have seen some articles which describe the process of making and disposing the digital readers and that is not so environmentally friendly. In developed world, we may recycle them but elsewhere, they go to the landfills.
ReplyDeleteAlso, I like to underline or highlight some of the books, which may be difficult on the electronic version.
Ashish, highlighting and underlining is quite easy on eBooks. Good point about disposal of gadgets.
ReplyDeleteUntil we downsized in this smaller place, I liked Physical Books. Now we have a problems of storing those. During a last few years, I have taken so many boxes of books to the Goodwill Industries. I am also very cautious as I do approach the final days, when I die, I do not want my son and daughter to spend time disposing all the "Stuff" that I collected. I still buy e books and books when e cook edition is not availble. But I am very cautious of the impact I am making on others, including the environment.
ReplyDelete