Well. I happened to be perusing through my roommate's items and saw that she had a kindle fire. You know that feeling when you're supposed to hate something and then all of the sudden you want it? I had that feeling.
Now I can't stop looking at these things online. I almost broke down and bought one when I got my paycheck from work. What has happened to me?
Consumerism? Maybe. I love to buy things.
But my point is, maybe E readers aren't such a bad thing anymore. I really don't have a lot of space left on my bookshelf, and I don't need to cram another bookshelf in my room. Of course, all of my favorite books will still be in hardback and not downloaded from the internet, but I maybe be very interested in keeping all of my books in one place. That's pretty handy when I'm on vacation and don't know what book to bring, or when I need to find a book fast.
I hate abandoning my morals though. I do suffer from a nasty bout of pride when I'm wrong about things. I might not buy a kindle just out of spite.
The important thing that I finally realized is that, in my quest for people to read more, I've stopped thinking about how E readers like the Kindle, the Sony reader, the Nook and the Ipad can promote and encourage kids and adults that reading can be fun. So what if it's not a cracked paperback book and instead on a 500 dollar piece of aluminum? That is not my decision to make. I can't be judgmental, because at the end of the day, the results that I so desperately want from people are the same.
It's like people reading magazines like Cosmopolitan or Glamour. Yes, the content within the magazine is often vapid and shallow, but fact of the matter is that these people are reading. Well, hopefully. Some people just pick up magazines to look at the pictures.
So if and when I choose to buy an E reader, I'll understand that I'm both encouraging reading and simultaneously throw away every evil and prideful thought that I've had about the heinous E reader.
I think that my whole reasoning about why I don't want E readers to become the next big thing is that I love the feeling of a book in my hands, and I love that magical feeling of reading something and being completely caught off guard by a book, or loving a book so much that after finishing it I go back and reread the parts that I like again. Yes, of course you can have those same feelings and be reading the book on a kindle, but the magic of holding the paper book in your hands has no comparison. I could never read Harry Potter on a kindle. I'm old school I guess, but at least I'm making strides on the technology front.
No! You know I've always felt similarly about e-readers. In fact yesterday I received an e-reader in the mail from my grandfather. He doesn't use his and he thought his bookworm grandaughter would. I'm not any more thrilled with it now that I own one than I was previously was. I understand the value e-readers can have to publishing, but they will never replace books to me. There is nothing better than a book in my hand and although I have three bookshelves completely full, I will gladly buy more to house my future collection.
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