Books vs Ebooks

Now days with the rise of digital technology many physical items such as pen and paper are slowly being replaced by computers and smart phones. But is this really a good thing? I read books and of course so do many other people in this class and around the globe. But since the creation of ‘e-readers’ more and more people have been converting to the technology based side of reading. Although technology is slowly becoming more predominant in this era we should not rely on it to always entertain and keep us occupied.

I think ‘real, physical’ books are better than e-books because you can truly own a book. As Mortimer J. Adler, a popular author, says, ‘Full ownership comes only when you have made [the book] a part of yourself, and the best way to make yourself a part of it is by writing in it.’ When owning an e-book it is more like owning ‘insurance’ than owning a camera. In one case ownership of books is physical and irrevocable but e-books are not and can be taken away easily as Kindle users discovered when one day their copies of 1984 suddenly disappeared. You will know a book that is truly owned because it will be ‘dog-eared and dilapidated, shaken and loosened by continual use, marked and scribbled in from front to back,’ says Adler. It also lets you know how old and how well enjoyed a book was. E-readers are beginning to allow some interactivity, but it is of a very different order. Taking a note in an e-book or making a highlight in it is independent of the book; all of that information is stored apart from the book in a file or a database. Send the book to another person and you’ll find that all of the notes and highlights are gone. They belong to you or your device, not to your book.

One of the most disappointing aspects of e-books is that they cannot be loaned out. Most have some kind of digital rights management which ties a book to a particular owner. When you buy a Kindle book, you might have a copy of that book on up to 5 of your devices, but they