Who Cares How We Read?
Who cares how we read? Or, another rant about e-readers vs books
My father recently called to tell me he got a Kindle, and I absolutely must get one.
I’ve toyed with the idea before, but my clumsiness and my love for a “real” paper book have always swayed me.
To me, nothing can beat a real book. Nothing can beat the smell of one, the feel of it in your hands, nothing can beat bending back the covers to get it to stay on one page…
Besides, I don’t think I’d feel like I was getting anything for my money by downloading books on to a Kindle, or any other e-reader.
Although, seeing as I started reading A Dance With Dragons by George R.R. Martin recently, I can see the advantage of an e-reader which weighs just a few grams.
A Dance With Dragons is a hard back which is 959 pages long (not including appendices). It’s bigger than some of the academic texts I had to read for college. It is a fabulous book, as are all books written by Martin, but it’s a bitch to carry around.
I can’t be without a book, but bringing that thing to my rugby training, bringing in it in my bag when I go out for coffee, is sure to cause back problems. A Kindle would solve that problem, as well as the problem of pages fluttering in the wind, and the problem of the cost of such big books (especially if you order them online, as I often do- shipping costs suck).
It would also solve the problem of running out of books. I recently had to travel a round trip of about 8 hours to play a rugby game, and I took just one book- A Feast For Crows. I thought I had plenty of book left to read, but I had forgotten to take into account the appendices. At least half of the pages I thought I had ahead of me were actually appendices, and I spent the four hours travelling home bored out of my mind.
Many articles I’ve read have mentioned the great advantage of freeing up space in your home, and removing “clutter” because you no longer need piles of paperback books.
I love my piles of books. I’m working on turning a spare bedroom in my house into a reading room, and when myself and my boyfriend buy our own home, I’ll be able to decorate an entire library however I want. I can’t wait.
I can’t imagine what my library would look like if I switched to Kindle. A large empty room, with bookcases sitting empty, gathering dust, an armchair in the corner by the radiator with a small table beside it with just a small Kindle on it.
Some argue that e-Readers are more environmentally friendly than paper books, but then again, maybe books are the better option.
At the end of the day, I guess it comes down to personal choice (tell us in the comments which you prefer), even though I’ve seen the debate become very heated.
At the end of the day, when one in seven US adults have such low literacy they struggle to read children’s picture books, who cares how you’re reading? Surely what matters is that you are reading.
I wish I didn’t have to choose. I would love to be able to buy a paperback edition for my bookshelf, AND an ebook edition for my e-reader. I love that I can read my ebooks on my cell phone. That makes them so portable that I can fit as many books as I want to in the back pocket of my jeans. I love that, but I also love to curl up with a book that feels like a book. I have a habit of writing little notes on the inside of the cover of my books. I write the page numbers where favorite passages or quotes can be found. Sometimes I write the date I got the book and who I got it from if it was a gift, and things like that that I can’t do with an ebook. Yeah, I want both. One of these days I’ll be able to have both. :)
I would have to agree that it doesn’t matter how one reads as long as you read. While I’m a huge fan of the Kindle, I still buy books from my favorite authors in hardback/paperback and some cases just buy both versions. While I love the the convenience of the Kindle, but there’s something about being able to flip to may favorite portion or line of a book with ease. I don’t necessarily think you have to pick one over the other, but simply enjoy whatever you read, however you read it.
I should also add that I read that article…I don’t waste electronices. I sold my older Nook to someone who gave it a wonderful home, so I could upgrade. I sell all of my used phones, or give them to someone who needs them. Anything broken I either sell for parts or give them to my brother who uses them for parts.
While there are a lot of people out there who just toss old electronics into the trash, I am definitely not one of them, nor is anyone in my family. I would say there is a good percentage of people who recycle electronics in some way.
I certainly prefer my Nook, but I still have lots and lots of hard cover and paperbacks at home. Some things I want to have the hard cover, some things I don’t really care.
But you’ve got a very valid point. The important thing isn’t HOW one reads, it is THAT one reads.