Saturday, April 3, 2010

A Book or E-Reader - You Be The Judge

Over the last year or so, there has been the great debate between having a real book in our bags or a Kindle E-Reader.  This debate has had a lot of people taking sides and once they've taken them, many haven't looked back.

So, let's start at the beginning.  When I was taught to read, it was from a book.  I turned the pages and felt them between my fingers; and that's mainly what got me going - my passion for them that is.  This is how I got into collecting books in the first place.  Never in my wildest dreams did I ever think that before I was forty would books become so advanced that we'd be using electronic devices to read them.  Nor did I think we'd be able to communicate across the world via computers that I began using in high school (which were so very slow at the time too!).  
Now, books are still published and put out onto the shelves, however they can also be downloaded for a price as well.  But my question to you all is:  are you an old-fashioned book-reader or are you a Kindle E-Reader?  It doesn't matter which one you are, we'll all read the same book whichever format we decide to read it in.
But the war goes on about how books are to be published in the not-to-distant future.  Will they still be available in the hard copy printed form we have all grown so used to and loved; or will they eventually become only available in E-Reader form where we will have to acquire one of the Kindles at some point?  
Personally, I do love to run my fingertips along the spines of my books in their shelves.  I enjoy the smell of a new book; and the odour of an old one.  There's just something about having a real book with me where I can find my place with the bookmark and read the pages, and turned the page - feeling that familiar paper between my fingers that started the love of what's in my hands from such a young age - no matter where I am in this world.
And what I love the most about reading books is that I can get into a book absolutely anywhere; at any time and it will take me away from where I am now to another place, time, planet and custom until I close its cover and return home.

4 comments:

  1. I love the smell of books. They should bottle the scent from Barnes and Noble (coffee and books - my two favorite things). However, I love the fact that I can have a book I want in seconds with kindle and not have to leave my house.

    ann

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  2. I have a Kindle and love it but I also love walking through book stores and feeling them. Covers of books are the best. I enjoy having both and I would continue to buy my favourite authors in hard cover.

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  3. I've always said that if I traveled more, and if the Kindle came down in price to something reasonable (say, under $100), I'd probably get one. But there's no way it would replace real books.

    For one thing, it's not a cost-effective way to read certain books. If there's a book that I'll likely read once and have no interest in having in my personal library (new mystery fiction is a good example), I won't buy it, but will check it out from the library. Why pay $10?

    Then there are other books which simply don't lend themselves to being read/viewed on a small screen, art books and other illustrated books, for instance.

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  4. I'm used to regular books. I have yet to use an e-reader.

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