No one is trying to do away with books. The definition of a book?
–noun1. a written or printed work of fiction or nonfiction, usually on sheets of paper fastened or bound together within covers.
Books are books whether they’re being written on computer, with a typewriter or by hand. They’re still books whether they’re printed on paper and bound together or formatted as an ebook.
I also see a lot of people saying “ebooks” (I’m assuming they mean ereaders) “hurt my eyes”. No. No they don’t. You obviously haven’t used one, have you? There is no way ereaders (at least, the recent ones with e-ink technology and not LCD screens - shiny screens aren’t comfortable for anyone whether it’s on a laptop, phone or e-reader). E-ink is amazing. Go out and have a look before you decide that, well, of course they must hurt your eyes. I mean, you can sit on your Macbook or laptop for hours on end reading Tumblr memes but god forbid that you should be forced to read on a far superior screen. I’ve had my Kindle since March and not once have I thought “this is so uncomfortable”. You can’t read in the dark but you can’t read a print book in the dark either. Turn the light on.
Secondly, ebooks are not killing bookshops. I find it hilarious that people will complain that the demise of Borders and other bookstores is due to the rise in popularity of ebooks and ereaders yet they’ve been ordering books online for years.
Print books will never disappear. I thoroughly believe that. I also accept that ereaders aren’t for everyone. It’s completely fine if you don’t want to buy one but it’s frustrating that I constantly see complaints about ereaders (specifically Kindles, interestingly. You’ve forgotten other ereaders exist?) that are based on ignorance and a nostalgic attempt to hold onto print books. I slightly understand. I love print books and will never stop buying them, but there’s also many benefits of ereaders (which I won’t list here as you’ve all heard them before).
God, just stop complaining about something that doesn’t affect you one tiny bit. If you keep buying print books, people will keep publishing them. Simple. The biggest concern is the millions of people who can’t read or won’t read. We need to focus on that rather than people’s individual choices about what book format they want to read.
There’s also a long and rather interesting argument presented by michaeltalbot.
(Also, I don’t mean this as a direct attack on the original poster! It’s more of a general rant.)Basically, my argument is:
“I don’t care how people read, I care if people read.”- John Green
An e-book is a book. Read wikipedia. I know when the Kindles came out I was opposed to buying one myself. But I was and never will be opposed to people reading from it themselves. I would even buy one for a relative if I felt like it. It’s the 21st century. If people read more because of it, I’m not complaining.
(Source: teethteethteeth, via bibliofiliac)
