Welcome to the 21st century, where cars place phone calls, cell phones find directions, and there’s an app for just about everything.
Electronic books are becoming the future of reading. Frequently called e-readers, these devices are prevalent among those serious readers who want to keep up with the latest in technology. They are similar in idea to MP3 players, but for books instead of music. An e-reader can hold hundreds of books, downloaded for a price from the provider of the technology.
The sentiment of many is fear; they are afraid of losing the quality and feel of holding a traditional book in their hands. However, the benefits of reading electronically far outweigh any feelings of nostalgia for the bulky feel of those hardcover books lining the shelf.
Kelly Doherty, junior, discovered the convenience of e-readers after receiving a Nook for Christmas this year.
“I don’t belong to a library anymore because we moved. If I want a book, I don’t have to go to the store because you can just get them [online],” Doherty said. “It’s a lot easier to get books instead of going to the store, buying a book, then having it forever and not reading it again.”
Reading a traditional book requires effort that e-readers can easily eliminate from an already busy life. E-readers can increase the amount of people willing to pick up a book because of the simplicity of the ‘point and click.’ In the Internet age, fewer and fewer kids or adults are willing to take the time to go pick out a book from the library, take it home, and have to read it within a certain time limit. An owner of an e-reader can simply take a few moments to peruse the titles online, make their selection, and then own the book forever at a fraction of the cost of buying a book from the book store.
With the new ability of PDF readers, electronic books offer such conveniences as highlighting favorite passages, making notes in the margins, and flipping the pages in the same manner as a physical book.
The most convenient part of the e-readers is their compact size, making trips easier for those who bring a few books along with them. Instead of multiple heavy books taking up space in a suitcase or bag, a single e-reader can carry a variety of books and genres, allowing more choices given the reader’s mood. Mary Ann Eiserman, English teacher, compared her Kindle to roughly the size and weight of the school’s student handbooks.
“With the Kindle, while I travel, it is so easy just to take that and not have to worry about the weight of a couple of books,” Eiserman said.
Supporters of the e-readers applaud their ‘green’ qualities. E-readers save the natural resources that book manufacturing would use to print hundreds of thousands of pages. In 2003, publishing companies came out with about 175,000 new book titles. Being able to publish and distribute many of those books could eradicate the waste created when one purchases a book from the book store, reads it once, or even twice, and leaves it to collect dust on the shelves.
Sitting down at home – or the train, the hair salon, the hotel balcony – with an electronic book can offer just the same experience as holding a physical book. A devoted reader can browse through the limitless covers contained within the device, carry all of one’s favorite reads in one compact place, and flip a page on an easy-to-read computer screen. The future of reading is bright.