Paper book vs eBooks? | Amie

It’s been a while since I wrote a freestyle post, and I honestly can’t manage to whip up another book review. You know life has changed so much already from when the four of us—Sarah, Meilun, Tonia and myself—started this blog. I feel that I’ve changed so much as a person already. Along the journey that is self-discovery, reading has always been there for me, no matter the format. I guess that brings us to today’s topic; which is better, paper books or electronic books? ┐( ˘◡˘ )┌

I personally prefer paper books but don’t get me wrong, I love e-books and I read them all the time. But absolutely nothing compares to the feeling of touching and holding a real paper book; it makes me feel at home. But lately I haven’t really had the chance to read a real paper book, so I’ve resorted to the internet (like most of us do when we need help). I have to say I’ve read more eBooks than I’ve ever read before this year alone. I kind of miss paper books (hardcover, paperback, I love them all).

So here is a brief list of 4 main reasons why I think that Paper books are great.

1. The way books feel

Like I said before, holding an actual real-life book in your hands is one of the best parts of reading. It just makes the story come to life, and makes it seem so much more realistic. Everything from the smell of the pages and ink, the neat lettering of the words, the texture of the paper, heck even the taste of the pages make me happy. Lol just kidding with the last one. We’re all bookworms, but not that kind of worm. o(≧▽≦)o ← me laughing at my own jokes

Also being able to see the whole product gives me a sense of completion, knowing how far along this journey I am and how much I’ve yet to learn. Unlike eBooks, readers cannot look at the stack of pages falling, the feeling of skimming through all the pages; just none of this you can get through online reading. And I think most bibliophiles can agree that feeling and touching a book is far superior to just reading the words off a screen.

2. Easier on the eyes

I’m sure that it’s not just me who can’t stare at an electronic screen for too long. Like seriously, my eyesight is already bad enough, I don’t need a few extra lenses. I mean it is good to take breaks, especially if you are reading on a screen but I guess my bibliophilic heart cannot handle the suspense and heartbreak of parting with a good novel.

Like when I was rereading my all-time favorite book series, Darkest Powers Trilogy earlier this month (check out my review for The Summoning), I literally finished all three books in 3 days tops. And even with a regular paper novel, I wouldn’t have put it down. It just so happens that I only had the eBook versions available. I can’t even imagine what my screen time looked like when I was reading the trilogy. I guess we’re all guilty of abusing our eyesight through screen time. Well, I guess this is your daily reminder to take a break from your screen (seriously, after reading this take 5 and stare outside). (⇀‸↼‶)

3. Makes the experience more enjoyable

For some reason, I have always had the impression that reading a real paper book is more legitimate than reading an electronic copy. When we started our book club in March / April (when we were in lockdown), all we had available were online copies. I guess I didn’t mind it then since it was a safe, easily accessible option to fulfill my desire for reading (and social interaction). I guess the fact that I’ve grown up reading and living stories in paper books may play a role in my preferences, but everything about paper books makes reading much better. Everything about [paper] books—the thin smooth paper, the crisp uniform words and their fresh meanings, the flat level binding and being able to see the book as a whole—makes reading feel so real.

Especially beautiful bookmarks; holding and placing one of these pulchritudinous markers is a breathtaking experience. Maybe I’m exaggerating the reading experience, but being deprived of a good paper novel for so long makes me unconsciously hold it under a bright light (literally the most reasonable cause that my desolate brain can fathom). But seriously, bookmarks are so wonderful. Especially pretty ones (although a good ol’ strip of paper or paint color sample does the trick as well). (⌒▽⌒)☆

Pulchritudinous /pəlkrəˈt(y)o͞od(ə)nəs/

extremely beautiful

Vocabulary word of the day! Lol

See what I mean?

4. Emotional connection

And my final reason; emotional connection. I feel like electronic devices are so multi-purposeful these days. But don’t get me wrong it’s an amazing thing; different tools stored in one compact, light-weight object. But when we put all our time and use the same device for everything, we kind of lose faith and trust in our “olden days” single-purpose items. Like now, our smartphones can serve as cameras, photo albums, calculators, rulers, compasses, maps, phonebooks, tracking devices and so much more. But when things like the tasks listed above are so commonplace and easily accessible, what can we do but to lose faith in them and place it instead in our “more reliable” smartphone devices? When we put all our emotion into one device, we slowly start to forget the joy of actually doing. Like have you ever converted a photo onto film, spending hours in a dark room? Have you ever had a photo album where you keep treasured family photos? Do you know how to read a map? In putting our faith in electronic devices, we slowly lose what it feels like to feel. *

*(okay sorry for the rant ( 〃▽〃); I literally talked about this in an English writing prompt and I’ve somehow managed to incorporate it into my hobby writing? Uh never thought I’d say this so early, but kudos to English teachers around the world!)

That is kind of what I feel about reading electronic books. Especially if a kid were to grow up doing everything online (like reading; I grew up in paper books), they wouldn’t experience the joy of feeling the real object. Perhaps this is the danger of human and technology advancement; is losing our humanity worth the advancement of our technology?

Holy shoot I've strayed off topic. But I think you understand what I mean by now; reading isn’t just about words on a page, but also the experience of opening a book and absorbing whatever you are reading. ( ^▽^)

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I feel like I’ve only explored the pros of reading paper books. To balance it out in an attempt to be fair (let me know if it’s working), I’ll briefly discuss the cons of paper books.

1. Space

Being a bibliophile sometimes makes us susceptible to owning books—many books. And you know what? Not all of us have personal libraries or large shelves for storing books. If you are anything like me, you would only own a select few of absolutely favorite books, like the ones you would re-read anytime. o( ❛ᴗ❛ )o

And in trying to make this a con, I have thought of a solution to the problem of space; borrow from the library! Well, I have always done this, but it’s better to borrow from the library first to read for enjoyment. And if the book lights a flame of passion in your heart, then by all means buy it! Not having a lot of space to store paper books is definitely one of the pros of eBooks. You could store dozens of novels on one device that you carry around in your pocket, if you can’t fit dozens of books in your backpack or your shelf at home.

2. Size

Very similar to the last point, size plays a factor in not owning many books. But as pointed out previously, you don’t need to own the book to be able to read it! But even if you borrow many paper books from the library, you’ll need space to put them. Especially if you bring your books to school or to other places (like I did back in elementary), I could only manage a few (two at most but I’d only really bring one), taking factors like size, weight and shape into consideration. I love reading, but I won’t stuff my backpack with heavy books. If I was reading eBooks, I’d be able to store many books on one device, which would make it lighter and more portable.

3. The environment

Paper books are lovely, but paper comes from trees and we are killing trees faster than they can grow. (｡•́︵•̀｡) This just makes it so much more important that we recycle and reuse as much as possible, and things like borrowing from the library or using eBooks help our environment. Also things like reusing paper, not wasting paper, selling books you don’t want etc.

4. paPeR CutS?

Okay this has never been a problem for me, but perhaps you experience paper cuts when reading. Maybe you are vying to find out what happens next or you’re reading too fast,, and you happen to get a paper cut. Well, this is something your electronic reading device won’t give you, but I don’t think that this is a valid reason to give up entirely reading paper books. And if push comes to shove and these pages are really cutting you up, you could try wearing gloves? Or flipping the pages slower and more carefully? Getting cut by paper isn’t a good reason to hate on paper books, or give up reading. Besides, wounds heal. Don’t get too hung up on what could happen.

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You know what? When I started writing this post, I had the idea that paper books were superior to electronic books. But after exploring both sides of the story, I now realize that both paper books and eBooks must coexist peacefully for the sake of balance and neutrality. I honestly still prefer paper books but I can not and would never hate electronic books because the knowledge you gain from reading does not differ. And we can come back to the question of which is better, paper books or eBooks? Well, I’ll let you decide. It’s all individual and unique to each person, and based mostly off of preference.

Feel free to check out my other post Start Reading More | Amie for more my opinion on knowledge and books.

It’s also pretty circumstantial as well; like the COVID pandemic closed down a lot of facilities, like the public libraries, so the only option was to buy books or read them online.

So my conclusion? Paper books aren’t better than eBooks, and eBooks aren’t better than paper books. Instead, paper books and eBooks [books in general] are both the best. ♡( ◡‿◡ )

Until next time!