There is a debate among readers all around the world. There has always been the Mac vs. PC debate of the computer world, Coke vs. Pepsi in the soft drink world and now in the world of readers there is the e-book vs. paper-book debate.
According to mashable.com, e-books outsold print books for the first time in 2011 and the trend keeps on going where more people are reading e-books and fewer are reading print books. There are people who will fight to the teeth for both but consider the pros and cons of each.
People who argue for print books like the feeling of holding a thick book, the smell of old books, the cover art and of course the fact that a print book doesn’t need to be charged. No one ever forgot their charger and couldn’t finish their book.
There also is something fun about seeing the creases in the spine and seeing all the notes and underlines of all those readers who came before. Books tell a story. Looking at first editions of classics from the 19th century gives clues into the culture and they have a great collectable value. Sure, anyone can download the words for free, but physically touching a dusty cover that saw the Civil War is not something that can be downloaded.
Libraries are loaded with physical books. Books, newspapers and articles are available for download, but many more are not. For looking at a rare edition or an obscure title a physical library may be the only way to go.
On the other hand, e-books are not the kiss of death for literature. Anything that gets more people reading is a good thing. E-books make it possible for people who wouldn’t other wise be able to read a specific book to read it.
With e-books there is no need to wait for someone to return the-book to the library. It is easy to zoom in, so there’s no need to put on reading glasses from reading tiny print late at night. Or if you’re ashamed of what your reading, nothing hides it better than an e-book. No one will have to know you’re reading Fifty Shades of Gray but you.
Most of the classics are available for free, meaning more people may be reading titles such as A Tale of Two Cities and Moby Dick than ever before.
There is the so called “Anna Karenina phenomenon,” where people may not have the patience to read through a long novel with short attention spans. Yes on a Kindle or Ipad, Facebook is only a click away. It can be hard to stick it out and read a couple chapters when music and cat videos are more immediately satisfying than long descriptions of a house.
Books are not dying, they are just changing form. People will still need to read in the future, but it will likely occur on a screen instead of digging through the stacks in a library. There will always be value in reading and collecting print books but don’t snub e-books just yet. Like it or not, they are getting more people reading than ever before and are here to stay.
