Standing the Test

There’s word on the street of a novel gizmo that is making bookworms everywhere draw their noses from the pages—the electronic book better known as the e-book or e-reader. Casually, some say that this is simply a passing trend, a five-minute-fad, while others believe that it could indelibly change the world of reading. What is this new curiosity? The e-reader is a portable electronic device used for reading digital books, which comes by a few different names, most popularly the Kindle and the Nook. Although some devoted bookies feel as though they are rejecting their dear old paper-bound friends when they choose to buy an e-reader, there are certain advantages to the new items. Noting the distinctive characteristics of both a book and the e-reader, such as ease, environment, and cost, only time will tell which of the two will win out in the end.

The e-reader surely is a convenient device. Instead of needing an entire bookshelf to store your books, the e-reader provides unlimited storage for stories. Hundreds of books contained in a tiny screen. Only eight and a half ounces and six inches long, the e-reader is extremely conducive for portability, easy to be thrown in a purse or backpack. In today’s fast-paced lifestyle, the ease of being able to buy and receive a digital book with only a few clicks of a button and in only twenty seconds is certainly desirable. Using the special tools and settings such as the dictionary, passage finder, and highlighting functions, the e-reader is remarkably simple to navigate. Although the e-reader is wonderful for storage, portability, and ease, there is the drawback of not being able to lend your favorite books to your friends and family, which is possible with a paper book. Also, only one person at a time can use an e-reader, even though it can hold hundreds of books at a time. Undoubtedly, the e-reader is fascinating device with very neat advantages.

How green is your reading? Economically, the contrast between paper books and e-readers is decided; however, they both have their advantages and disadvantages. With the e-reader, the environmental advantages are obvious—the saving of many trees that would otherwise be made into paper, but the disadvantages of the techy book are more complicated. In the technical world, there’s something called a carbon footprint. A carbon footprint is perplexing, but basically, “Every time you use energy that comes from fossil fuels, you create CO2 and make your carbon footprint bigger. Think of CO2 as energy waste. It’s what’s left over after you use fossil fuels. You create carbon dioxide every day”(Deiterich). The carbon footprint can be thought of as the measurement of how “green” an item is. Because paper books can be lent and borrowed through libraries and friends, the carbon footprint can be reduced considerably. Surely, the best choice is expressed in the amount of books a reader consumes. The Sierra Club Green concluded – as did a recent New York Times piece on the same subject:

Unless you’re a fast and furious reader, the energy required to manufacture and then dispose of an e-reader is probably greater than what’s needed to make a traditional book. If you’re reading forty or more books per year on your e-reader, that would be the right choice. But if you use it only occasionally, probably better to stick to a “regular” book.

The proof is in the reading.

Definitely the deciding factor for most readers is the cost of this techy little book. Is the cost worth the flashy doodads and neat quirks? For the average e-reader itself, the cost is $160—which is a considerable chunk of change. With this money, it would be possible to buy thirteen books. After buying the e-reader itself, you must purchase the books that you wish to read, which are no cheaper than the price of the same paper book. While you can lend and borrow books for free from friends or public libraries—which have an enormous selection of books—an e-reader can only be used by the person who owns it. Paying the same amount for your digital book, you lose a great advantage of lending and borrowing. To have all of your books stored in one very small thin fragile casing is not only costly, but risky. It would be easy to accidentally drop or spill a cup of grape juice on it. When a book is ruined, it is usually simple to go and buy another copy for a mere $15, but if an e-reader is wrecked, not many people would be willing to skip out and buy another for $160. As the Sierra Club Green views the matter, “Here’s the best answer: go to the public library next time you are downtown. Borrow three or four books, finish them all, then return ‘em next time you’re near the library. This is truly the most sustainable way to read: the good old fashioned public library”(Sierra Green Club). The cost of an e-reader is extremely high and is simply not worth the advantages.

Although a handy contraption, the e-reader is over-rated, for it is extremely costly and economically mediocre. For thousands of years, books have served people around the globe satisfactorily, and people have never claimed books to be inconvenient before. Obviously, books are very convenient: the average book is easy to carry, and most people only carry one or two books with them at a time—not a difficult maneuver. It is apparent that our society imagines problems with the old when the new arrives—problems that never existed before. Settings like the dictionary, passage finder, and highlighter are quick and useful, but these are not things that are difficult to do without an e-reader. Bill Gates himself confesses:

Reading off the screen is still vastly inferior to reading off of paper. Even I, who have these expensive screens and fancy myself as a pioneer of this Web Lifestyle, when it comes to something over about four or five pages, I print it out and I like to have it to carry around with me and annotate. And it’s quite a hurdle for technology to achieve or match the level of usability(Darnton 69).

In addition to the practical, environmental, or economic considerations, what about the beauty of the book? Many owners of e-readers admit that they miss their books, miss turning the pages, and miss the familiar smell. All “Marian the Librarians” know that exhilarating fresh smell of a new book—and the feel of a stiff binding, and the sound of words screaming to be read. It is a fascinating idea to think that the words you’re reading in some old second-hand book have been read by an number of people—the same ink markings have been enjoyed, studied, or despised by others before you. Books are a strange connection between people. They have power. The writer, Sydney Smith, said that “No furniture is so charming as books”(Useful Information Website). Somehow, a little white piece of metal isn’t the same.

Consider the book. It has extraordinary staying power. Ever since the invention of the codex sometime close to the birth of Christ, it has proven to be a marvelous machine—great for packaging and information, convenient to thumb through, comfortable to curl up with, superb for storage, and remarkably resistant to damage. It does not need to be upgraded or downloaded, accessed or booted, plugged into circuits or extracted from webs. Its design makes it a delight to the eye. Its shape makes it a pleasure to hold in the hand. And its handiness has made it the basic tool of learning for thousands of years (Darnton 68).

Before it was said that only time will tell if either the e-reader or the book is the best choice, but, in fact, the book has already stood that test—it’s stood the test for five thousand years, and the e-reader will not last that.

Works Cited:

Darnton, Robert. The Case for Books: Past, Present, and Future. New York: PublicAffairs, 2009

Deiterich, Ann. “Carbon Footprint Definition for Kids.” Live Strong. 31 Mar. 2011.
http://www.livestrong.com/article/159514-carbon-footprint-definition-for-kids/

“E-readers vs. Old Fashioned Books—Which is Greener?” Sierra Club Green. 9 Dec. 2010.
http://www.sierraclubgreenhome.com/videos/e-readers-vs-old-fashioned-books%e2%80%94which-is-greener/

“Famous Library and Librarian Quotations.” Useful Information. 22 Apr. 2011.
http://www.useful-information.info/quotations/library_quotes.html