First of all, I know that you may not even care about books or reading, but you should
recognize that there are people out there in this world that do.
I’m one of them.
And so maybe this discussion about books vs e-books may not relate to you, but if you
look at this discussion on a much more bigger scale, it’s more about the tangible vs digital.
And so this discussion can be applied to DVDs vs digital downloads or CDs vs MP3s.
But I’m going to talk about this in the context of books because that’s what this
channel is about and I like to read.
Reading is important and it’s important to me, which is why I have dozens and dozens
of books.
That’s one of the reasons I majored in English and went on to graduate school to learn more
about writing and literature.
So like most English majors, I was a “purist” and thought that books are the way to go.
I was under the impression that e-books were just a fad and that they robbed me of my experience
as a reader, making it less enjoyable and fulfilling without the pages in my fingers.
I thought this way for a long time during college.
When Amazon announced their Kindle, I thought, “That’s nice, but I don’t want to spend
money on a fancy e-reader when I could, technically, borrow books from the library for free and
feel the pages in my hands.”
And so over the years, I collected books and built up a nice library.
Maybe I was doing it because I liked to collect things, but also maybe to impress my friends.
But then I started to move around.
I moved across the country and then back again and then back again.
It’s already stressful enough to have to move my clothes and other things, but to move
books is so tiresome.
Fortunately, the local post office was just down the street, but I still had to pack and
carry those boxes to the counter.
By the way, pro tip on moving and shipping books: Call your local Barnes and Noble and
ask if you can use some of their cardboard boxes.
Those things are made to ship books and are pretty tough.
And the thing is, after moving my books three
times across the country, I came to the realization that I don’t have any room for them here.
My bookshelf is not big enough and I’ve had to give some of my precious books away.
So now that I’ve grown up, in a way, I see that books - the things that I loved so much
because of their tangibleness - are taking up precious space that I just don’t have.
That’s when I bought a Kindle.
And, oh, how it’s changed my life.
This isn’t an advertisement for Amazon and how great their product is - although if Amazon
wanted to sponsor me with a lifetime supply of books, that would be nice - but it is a
commentary on how much easier reading has become with an e-reader.
I’m able to hold a library of books, literally hundreds of books, in my hands and nothing
has changed.
I’m still a reader.
I still sit at the coffee shop and look intensely at what I’m reading while nodding my head
and sipping my coffee to let everyone know I’m deep in thought.
E-books are just a different way of experiencing what I already enjoy.
Now I know what all of the reading “purists” are saying.
“I just like holding the book in my hand.
I need to feel the pages.”
And I’m totally there.
I get it.
I like that too, but once you experience the convenience of being able to download any
book at home instead of going to the store or waiting for it to arrive, and more importantly,
once you see e-books as a way to experience reading through a different means, it’s
hard to not want to read e-books.
And I think that as the world becomes more digital, there will always be those people
who want to possess the media - whether it be a book, video game disc, DVD, etc.
And that’s fine.
As humans, we like to collect things.
But I’m slowly learning that as I’m growing up and making it on my own and there are certain
technologies to make things more convenient, owning the digital data is becoming okay.
I’m okay with paying $10 for a book that I’ll never touch.
But at the same time, I’ll never have to find room for it in my already limited space
either.
So, let me know what you think about books vs e-books, or about tangible media vs digital
media.
Hope you subscribe to Minute Book Reports and thanks for watching.