Even though e-books have become increasingly popular nowadays, I would go for print books over them any given day. In this digital age, there is seldom a need for paper. Everything has been digitized, from money to entertainment, to information. Books are no exception. Digital electronic books have, no doubt, provided us with better accessibility to knowledge. In fact, in some instances, there are chances that you might not be able to find a book in your local bookstore or library, but a digital copy of the same book will surely be available online.
Like E-commerce, online banking, and other digital innovations, e-books also have tons of advantages. Anyone from anywhere in the world can access a digital copy of a book if it is available on the internet. In addition, you can carry as many books as you please anywhere because they are all on a single smart device, like an iPad. You don’t have to worry about carrying a big, bulky pile of paper. E-books are also inexpensive compared to print books. You not only escape from paying for the paper but also save on bookshelves which in turn save up physical space in a small apartment. Your storage space is only limited to the memory of your electronic device, and you never have to worry about dusty books. A lot of environment-friendly people also prefer e-books since it saves paper. About 14% of the total deforestation is done to obtain paper, so if you choose to read e-books instead of paper books, you are playing your part to curb global warming.
However, despite the increased accessibility and other advantages of the technology of electronic books, I and a lot of readers still prefer traditional print books. This is mainly because for people like us, reading books is not a quantitative or objective habit, which should be improved or made efficient versions of. Rather it is a very subjective and qualitative habit, where we read to enjoy. We immerse in a book to get pleasure, which requires you to feel it. It is important to feel the weight of the big, bulky pile of papers, to smell the fragrance of a new book, and to feel the edge of a paper caressing your finger when you move to the next. There are also many advantages of reading paper books, like they do not put much strain on our eyes, and it is easier to jot down pointers right on the blank sides of the paper, but the main reason that print books are better is that I like to feel that I am reading an actual book, not a screen. Apart from that, many readers treasure their books. They like to store and keep them in bookshelves, treating them as valuable and priced possessions. With e-books, however, you miss out on the joy of collecting books.
Reading books is an essential form of learning, and it should be encouraged, be it by print books or e-books. As society progresses and as technology evolves, e-books may dominate the reading market in the future. Paper may become extinct as more and more books are digitized, and libraries containing print books may evolve to contain only e-readers, but as long as paper books are available, we should enjoy the pleasure of reading from them.