Book vs e-book

I'm still in love with the printed word, be it in ink or e-ink


  ~  ed

I had been an avid book-reader since i was a child, but with books tearing on me, i decided that it would be wiser for me to upgrade my views on this so that i wouldn't have to keep buying the same books over and over again - like my Sherlock Holmes, Rumpole, and Jeeves and Wooster (Rumpole has the Oxford Book of English Verse as a constant bedside companion, i have the Rumpole Omnibuses and the aforementioned:) )

I save space on books and DVDs (the latter replaced by a hard-drive and a WDTV) and replace it with music-making tools, toys, comics and records now

As for the issue of book vs ebook-reader, it is a non-issue for me now. What i'm focused on is what is the best e-reader in terms of function and feature. Kindle has great marketing strategies, the Kobo has a great e-book reader - given its non-proprietary approach, and its memory card slots.

As for being able to share e-books, well, unlike myself, those of Calibre might have a solution.


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The 'life' of a book comes from the reader leaving their own imprint on it with all its creases and folds. It gives you a slow-browining link to your own past. It is a physical manifestation of yourself from the past to the present and to the future.

You can't get that in an ebook reader. 

However, it is practical, space and cost-wise, to move to ebooks. To make up for the nostalgic or tactile feel of a book, i have a well-used musical instrument, or sofa, or coffee-cup, or a pair of old jeans, or watching MASH or Taxi or Cheers even though it is via a LCD TV and not a CRT.  In other words, I can still get my dose of nostalgia via other means.

There are many paths to nostalgia, but we shouldn't allow familiarity to translate to increasing cost in the future provided we have other means via which we can keep it alive.


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I'm still in love with the printed word, be it with ink or e-ink






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Anyway, I wonder why people don’t feel the same way when it comes to fashion but prefer to get nostalgic when it comes to books vs ebook readers.  Perhaps it is the latter problem that sees some of them compensating via books over e-readers.  Frankly, I'd rather get my fix of nostalgia with a pair of old worn out jeans and reading old tales like Holmes to Hanshew via e-readers instead of new authors in books.



ed