The future of reading
The future of reading
Some people think of the electronic book as the 'iPod for the written word' — a revolutionary invention that hasn't quite taken off yet, but is out to win readers. Old school conservatists who prefer to cosy up with a book aren't convinced that the printed word is about to become a legend with a place in tomorrow's history e-books!
Though there is no easy way to compare, luckily for readers we don't even have to choose a side.
Here are some arguments that have been thrown in the ring to win favour for either side.
For Books
- During the holidays or when you're catching up on your reading, you might enjoy relaxing with a book in the bath or by the pool under the sun. With the many wires required to view an e-book, this is next to impossible!
- While dusting shelves you get reacquainted with an old favourite that you'd like to re-read or lend to a friend who'll appreciate it as much as you do. Equally, just leaving it on the shelf gives you a self-satifying feeling of erudition. You can't do that with an e-book.
- What about copies of your old favourites? Classics like To Kill a Mockingbird are meant to be passed down to siblings or newer generations in hopes that they'll enjoy it as much as you did when you were younger. Nothing compares with the look and feel of an old book that is testimony to many reads and the passage of time.
- There's nothing quite like the feel of a book and the experience of placing it alongside your growing collection on the shelf. Or waking up to find you dozed off with it on your bed.
Books have remained unchanged and unscathed by technology's relentless advance. They continue to be loved by people of all backgrounds and ages. Can it be that they have reached evolutionary perfection?
For e-books
Keen advocates of the e-book may be sitting there and thinking "The Book, 2008 RIP." However, champions of technology say it is only common sense to give books a strong foothold in the brave new publishing world.
- They argue that e-books are a more portable, easily accessible and cleaner to look at and read. They sympathise with students lugging around back-bending knapsacks full of editions of Physics Made Simple or The Collected Poetry of the Victorian Period. With e-book the burdens of these students will be considerably lessened!
- E-books are available at a fraction of the price of real books and can hold much more information which is easily available at a the click of a mouse and more easily updated.
- People living the 'green' way are encouraged by the fact that e-books are environmentally friendly.
It is indeed a tough choice. But it is a good thing that this generation is between crossroads. Balancing between technology and its ancestry gives us a choice those before us never had. It is also one that those after us may not have either.
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