How Do Peopel Read So Many Books

What Makes a Volume?

In essence, the two formats are very similar. Both let you to do the nigh important matter - read a volume. The text is the important matter, not the medium. Reading Sumerian legends on clay tablets can feel more "accurate", merely doesn't necessarily enhance your understanding of the subject matter - just your feel.

Depending on the type of textile you'd like to read / look at, however, one does have advantages over the other.

PLEASE Annotation: The 2012 addendum to this article you've all been asking for: Ebooks vs. Newspaper Books: The Pros and Cons - 2012. The article below is still very valid. The 2012 version gives you (as a reader) a different perspective, and a handy guide to when you should be buying an ebook reader.

The "Archetype" Paper Volume.

Paper books offer multiple advantages:

• They're easily obtainable (Bookstores are everywhere).
• They're hands portable.
• They don't normally cause significant centre-strain.
• They're cheap.

Okay, that much was obvious. Specifically, some types of content paper books are better for are:

• Textbooks (or whatever books which are generally large-format).
• Picture / Photo books.

Another factor to bear in mind is that paper books don't need ability to function. They tin be read anywhere with sufficient low-cal, and are perfect travelling companions for exactly this reason.

The obvious cons are:

• Paper books are bulky and heavy. Carrying more than than 2-iii around can become a chore.
• You need a calorie-free source to read them - another affair that you lot'll probably carry around.
• If you brand notes in them, those notes are there to stay (Yeah, fifty-fifty pencil. Yous tin can always see the imprints, even if you lot erase every last shred of graphite).

The eBook

eBooks offer the following obvious advantages (bold y'all have an ebook reader):

• They're easily readable. Most readers offer zoom functions, letter resizing, and so forth.
• They're easily portable. You tin can carry multiple books on ane device.
• They're much more environmentally friendly. You don't have to kill a few trees for each book, and let'southward not fifty-fifty talk about the ink. Recycling only goes so far.
• Note-taking is much more powerful, and the notes you write tin be found and referenced quickly and easily. And they don't have to exist permanent.
• Lighting conditions essentially get meaningless. Many readers incorporate display lighting assuasive you to read whenever and wherever you like.

eBooks are useless without a reader. There are a few on the market, such every bit Amazon's Kindle, Jinke's Hanlin reader series, Sony'southward eReader series, and a few others. These are mentioned because they incorporate a technology called e-ink, which resembles paper very closely, and eliminates most eye-strain bug.

Some types of books especially suited for a reader are:

• Novels or non-fiction books without many pictures.
• Web-sites with html links and cantankerous references.

The disadvantages of ebooks mostly stem from the hardware you're reading them on. If it's a computer, you've got the normal computer bug which detract from your reading pleasure:

• Eye strain and RSI. Long periods spent in front of a estimator are good for you for nobody.
• Power. Your average laptop has 4-six hours of battery life.
• Portability. Why lug a laptop around if you tin just carry a book?

The cons of the reader devices are a little more subtle:

• Y'all still take battery life to worry well-nigh.
• Nasty software bugs in the reader can cause it to freeze upward.
• They're not very robust. If yous spill <insert beverage of choice> on them, chances are that's the end of your reader. Non to mention scratches, dropping them, and and so on.

In full general, ebooks endure from other cons as well:

• They're non readily available, and format wars are making the decision to purchase a reader very difficult. Will you go for the Amazon 1, and buy books (simply) there? Or the Sony?
• The pricing model hasn't been worked out yet, causing some major discrepancies.

So What Do I Utilize?

Personally, I mix and match. I accept an old Palm pilot and an ipod bear upon, and read novels, websites, blogs, and so forth on that. The option of novels isn't very broad, only as I read public domain books nigh of the time, this doesn't really matter as I can only download them.

Newspaper books are withal my favorite though. They don't need batteries, and I can read them only near anywhere.

Time will tell whether ebooks are a viable culling. At the moment, the whole thing is all the same in it's infancy, and a decent solution has yet to announced.

Hayden on April 22, 2019:

Indeed interesting! Nevertheless, it helped my schoolwork ^_^

Ashley on March 23, 2019:

Give thanks you lot for helping my homework!

Harold on March 22, 2019:

Give thanks you. It is so interesting

jennifer on November 17, 2018:

thank yous so much

leigh on December 26, 2016:

Thank for the useful info!

Sally on May 05, 2015:

I don't retrieve that classic books are hands obtainable , easily portable or cheap. Because all of the paper books that you lot buy add up to the price that yous could buy an Ipad. And you tin can't but notice bookstores anywhere but with Ipads all you lot need is wifi and yous tin can purchase books at home. And I recollect that Ipads are easily portable because for example if y'all are going to a sleepover you could fit ten books, youtube, facebook and instagram and even more in just a Ipad.

Those were but my opionins :)

theBAT on Feb 19, 2014:

I recollect ebooks are slowly changing the way we read. It may be a matter of time that paper books are no longer seen in libraries and carried by students. However no affair what, having a real book and having it signed by the author is way much better than an ebook.

Levy Tate from California, Us on November 26, 2013:

Information technology's the sound of the newspaper as you lot flip through, the progress you realise as yous read on, and just having a collection of physical books etc.

Thanks for writing this hub, pal! Voted up :)

YoungMistake on July 20, 2013:

A well-done comparison and contrast! What I dearest nearly books are their scents and papers. On the other hand, I love the built-in dictionary in the eReaders. I, as well, mix and friction match just I withal prefer books.

Kumi0429 on June 25, 2013:

Hi. It's very useful to have my students read this essay of Ebooks VS Paper Books. (I'g an English language teacher in Nihon) May I use this essay every bit a reading cloth for my TESOL students? If it'southward OK, tin I revise it easier about several words for them?

Matto on Apr 22, 2013:

E books are amend

iheartbooks on Apr 08, 2013:

The pros and cons of both items are both helpful in the process of purchasing either ebooks or newspaper books.

hi on April 08, 2013:

i middle books

Anonymous on Dec 11, 2012:

The point about power needed for east-books is a proficient point. If the power of the device runs out while reading, that would be very frustrating.

Eve Ainsworth on November xvi, 2012:

As a reader I savour both. I beloved existence able to download samples at a click of a button. Read on holiday. It'due south then piece of cake and flexible.

But I still dearest going into a bookshop and holding a volume.

As a author, The Blog of Maisy Malone http://world wide web.amazon.co.uk/The-Web log-Maisy-Malone-eboo... works well on a kindle format and I'1000 hoping will appeal to readers. For that reason, I think ebooks are not bad for getting certain books to market that traditional publishing might miss.

vrishti kaushik on October 17, 2012:

it was very nice whatever yous wrote was wonderfull

Jessica Kim on September 22, 2012:

Thanks! I'thousand a students. I using this folio as bear witness. Information technology is a overnice Hub!

★★★★★

eric-mikols on June 05, 2012:

Nice Hub. I exercise both but you do a good task of laying out the pros and cons. I agree that the ereaders are a petty iffy but I think they're making a strong broaden for themselves.

Archit Jain on May 05, 2012:

Thanks to the sight. It helped in my school's group word

KANISHK GAUR on April 19, 2012:

ITS FANTASTIC Now I Tin PREPARE FOR MY DEBATE COMPETION

cat on April 16, 2012:

thnx! this really helped a lot

anne on March 25, 2012:

i agree with your debate and i practice adopt a book myself

Catherine on March xviii, 2012:

Hi this site heped me with my debate at schoolhouse.Thank you a lot......Hope to see more:P

kate on March eighteen, 2012:

I like it a lot .Lots of information .Thanks

____ on March 06, 2012:

:)Good:)

cassandra carter on March 01, 2012:

helped*

cassandra carter on February 21, 2012:

I've been doing a debate in schoolhouse and my topic is; books are just every bit important as electronics. And im affermative,so this information actually,really elped me thank you soo much.

Ami on February 10, 2012:

To J E Gilbertson:

As much as I dear my eReader and use my calculator and email, I withal write letters by paw and mail them to people via the postal service when adequate and needed. I likewise take some books that are just not as satisfying to read as an due east-file and my bookshelves at abode are filled to the brim with printed books I've had for years. Anyway, believe me, you are not the only one who still writes letters past hand among reading an eBook or email-reading/writing world.

~Ami

cassandra carter on Jan 26, 2012:

this helped sooo much!!:) thx and then much,i have to practice a contend at skool and this was my topic thanks to this i got a 100% in the fence:D

J Due east Gilbertson on January 15, 2012:

It would intermission my center o see an cease to published newspaper books. I don't want them to go the mode of the hand written letter. An due east book can never be a keepsake. The reader tin can not feel the paper or the weightiness of the e book. I don't desire engineering science to rule every precious affair.

Collin on Jan 01, 2012:

Am doing an article for my schoolhouse paper and this helped

sarah on December 21, 2011:

you lot wont want to use your ereader in the tub, but you lot can with a real book. If y'all happen to drop it in, most likely information technology will notwithstanding be legible, or you just accept to supplant that 1 volume and not the whole system.

jesse on Nov 29, 2011:

laptop are better than books by far

Abdi on Nov 29, 2011:

i similar laptop improve than anything

Hunter on November 29, 2011:

I like textbooks bett

kcyow on Nov 14, 2011:

Coeus, 3 more of import/crucial points that y'all've missed in your comparison:-

01. How sad or frustrated would yous feel if you lot lose paper book as compared to losing your e-reader?

02. Hence, would you bring your e-reader *everywhere* you lot get or put/leave them in *whatsoever identify* such as the side of a pool or on the beach?

03. Full text search function of ebooks is *invaluable*, particularly for people who are "working" on information/knowledge!!!

I've to stress again here that zooming is a VERY important role of east-reader! Y'all'll really appreciate it when you're quondam, OR, after reading on your calculator screen for many many years! So, never read/stare at your computer screen for long hr(s), call back to have breaks/rests in between!!!

kcyow on November fourteen, 2011:

Coeus, how long do you think the batteries and the e-readers tin can/will last? Practice yous remember they can concluding for more than than five or even 3 years? Do you lot think the disposal or re-cycling of them are like shooting fish in a barrel, cheap or harmless?

Coeus (author) from All over the world and then some. on Oct 27, 2011:

photomass - that'due south true to a certain caste. Still, how many books can y'all carry on the ereader? The environmental price of processing the paper alone far outweighs that of an ereader's whole life-span.

photomass on October 27, 2011:

requite me a paper volume any day! This commodity also conveniently ignored the toll to surround in terms of the metals and plastics used in production of kindles etc. paper is and can be recycled more and inks can be much more than environmentally friendly. East-books have a place, but essentially information technology is motivated by turn a profit!

cale27 on September 25, 2011:

i was doing a speech for school, this actually helped!!!

Inexpensive Nursing Textbooks on July 27, 2011:

I notice note taking to be rather cumbersome on eReaders. I have owned a Nook (older version) and a Kindle 3. The Kindle is easier to notate, but certainly no easier than using a piece of newspaper and a highlighter. I'g a fan of permanence, I estimate :)

Snuffles on April 17, 2011:

Don't fool yourself..Ebooks means they can resell you the aforementioned content over and over again..Plus you lot don't ain the book either..you only license it. So soon they can delete information technology whenever they desire. See the example of how amazon remotely deleted copies of a book which people had purchased.

M.K.BHATIA on March thirteen, 2011:

Innovations will proceed bringing changes only they cannt change Wife-Husband relations. Printed Books are just like wives or vice-versa. You love them, keep them close to your centre, open them as many times as you can, kiss them, experience proud to have them in your handbag. They are the truthful friends whom you experience proud to continue in your reading room or bedroom. No comparison. Printing Books will never fade abroad.

Anj on March thirteen, 2011:

Hi there! Your hub is very useful for this topic. I really wrote an editorial most this topic also and used quotes and references from this. Of course, advisable credit goes to you. :) Kudos!

yoman1701 on March 01, 2011:

Thank you for the info Coeus!

Carol Siles on February 23, 2011:

I take cocky published 3 books and now take PublishAmerica marketing a fourth book. I had thought to cut out the middle-human and start an eastward-book business of my ain, just am non encouraged to exercise then after reading this site. However, I am also discouraged from continuing to try to detect a publisher to impress and marketplace the other books I have ready, due to the fact that then many publishers will not have manuscripts from unknown authors. Others put you on hold for years and don't fifty-fifty carp to transport rejection slips if they actually do read a manuscript or portion submitted for their perusal. The whole "getting published and having the public read your work" process is frustrating and very discouraging for new authors.

Ballad Siles on February 23, 2011:

Either I mis-typed or the automobile did not pick upwardly all that I typed of my proper name. Please revise it to Ballad Smiles.

anonymous on Feb 17, 2011:

it was very detailed and described both sides of each topic thoroughly. Congratulations.

Rachel on January 31, 2011:

I agree! my favourite are apparently paper books although i still like eReaders or downloading books on my laptop.

Robert on January 17, 2011:

It is a major reward to be able to change the font size. I have some onetime classics that accept a tiny font on yellowing paper, and it is difficult to read. Simply on the e-book, information technology is easy to read. OTOH, if bookstores become away, that is a loss, simply they are already being driven out by Barnes and Noble and Borders. If paper books go abroad, reading could go from existence a cheap hobby to being an expensive luxury. Right at present, y'all tin read for free by borrowing books from the library, or you can choice up used books for a dollar or even less. But if all that is available is ebooks, you have the up-front cost of the reader, and if y'all are low-income, you may not be able to afford information technology. One of the major upsides of a paper book is that paper stays written. In principle, eastward-books could exist sanitized and the original sent downwards the retention pigsty. On the other hand (in that location are a lot of hands) former obscure books that were once hard to observe are now easy to detect in eastward-volume format.

kirutaye from London, UK on December 26, 2010:

I currently download eBooks onto my smartphone and too however buy paperbooks. I am holding off buying an eBook reader since i can read ebooks on my phone.

Useful hub. Thank you for sharing

unknown on September 21, 2010:

i retrieve this is a very wonderful web site!!!!!! i will use this on a lot of stuff!!!!(: i promise all of the schools will get applied science for everyone that would exist AMAZING!!!!!!!!!!!(: i hope everyone has a wonderful day at school, work, and home!!!!!! beloved to all, unknown

MrsJones on September xx, 2010:

This has helped me immensely- I was doing a research newspaper on this exact topic and your article has given me peachy insight. Cheers!

P.S. Paper books for life! ;)

charles toftoy on August 22, 2010:

Printed books must ever remain. Ebooks are OK, just should never take over the industry from printed books. Think of the logging industry. Paper items would soar in price(paper towels, toilet tissue,other.

labon on June 21, 2010:

An excellent debate - any views regarding texts books will be welcome as I am simply because what would be welcomed by students

Liz on May thirteen, 2010:

A skillful article. Both formats certainly have their pros and cons, although I am definitely a printed volume girl. I don't just love reading, I honey books. I want to be able to hold them in my hand and display them on my shelf, you know. And as a writer I definitely want to exist able to hold my own book in my hands - seeing it on an e-reader screen isn't much dissimilar than seeing it on my give-and-take processor. Ebooks I recall are actually better for information books where your primary goal is to spread knowledge apace. I have my own article on this field of study on Squidoo.

Michael on April 21, 2010:

A very squeamish article. I would like to point out that textbooks and picture/photo books are not necessarily improve on paper unless we allow that ebooks must be straight reproductions of printed matter. If non and so the multimedia nature of ebooks will make them the pick of choice for textbook and picture/photo book publishers.

Your comment that the permanence of notes in newspaper books is a con seems to me inappropriate. Many people put notes in books, every bit I do, in the sure knowledge that 10, fifteen, or xx years from now when I pick upwards that book to re-read it, I will be able to encounter what I was thinking at an early phase of my life. If the notes were easily lost, or erased by an "upgrade" information technology would exist a tragedy.

The argument: "They're easily readable. Most readers offer zoom functions, letter of the alphabet resizing, and so forth." also gives me pause. If a paper volume is well designed information technology is, at least for the moment, always more easily readable than a ebook. As for "zoom functions, letter resizing, and and so fourth", these things are a crutch that is implemented because of the current country of ebooks. Somewhen the market volition settle on a or a few preferred screen sizes for reading devices (be they tablets or eInk readers). Therefore I see in the future buying ebooks based on the screen size for which they are formatted or in "big print" if that is more than preferable. Or, in which publishers package multiple "versions" formatted for different screen sizes/reader capabilities, in one bundle.

As for myself, at the moment I am nonetheless a dedicated print volume reader. The fact that each one comes with its own "screen" sized specifically for the content, is a large part of that. And a well designed book is a affair of cracking beauty.

However, after seeing the iPad version of Theodore Gray's book "The Elements" (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nHiEqf5wb3g) I can't feel my resistance to giving up my paper books crumbling.

alex on March 25, 2010:

i have in ebook sony pocket edition and every thing you said does friction match up

alex on March 25, 2010:

i have in ebook sony pocket edition and every affair you said does match up

bre on February 06, 2010:

adept advice on the cons i was working on a projection and it helped

isha on December 28, 2009:

what will be the adjacent level to this ebook?i would like to know the next level technology to this ebook

Louise on December 22, 2009:

Cheers very much. I merely saw the ereader on television and was not sure what it was. Now I know. I love to read books and wanted to know if the ereader would be cost effectiv than newspaper dorsum. Yous helped me with my determination on ownership ane. I think I'll wait and meet if the cost will go downwardly plenty for me to buy an ereader.

Judy Cullins from La Mesa, CA on August 15, 2009:

eBooks are great for non fiction informational materials. Practiced comparison :)

GregDea from Darwin, Australia on May 22, 2009:

Super wrap upwardly of the two kinds. I've written my own book on Ankle Injuries - completely researched and experienced as a physiotherapist for 9 years with a Masters caste in Sports Physiotherapy, just I didn't publish information technology considering nigh data is free on the topic anyhow. I recollect I'll release it to a free ebook site, and assess the response. I likewise recently launched a site selling both ebooks and paperback. If you lot're interested its http://wfm.ebookvendingmachine.com

Stephen Brook on April 29, 2009:

Coeus, great info on the pros and cons of newspaper vs. ebooks. Thanks for the highlights of different ebook readers. I would relish a review of the dissimilar readers and learning more near east-ink if yous have fourth dimension for another hub on this topic.

Belal on Feb 08, 2009:

thank you but were could you buy them and could y'all tell more info

you welcome

automatic ebook software on November 27, 2008:

Another thing is that when y'all live abroad and don't know the lanuage you can't become books... A reader is like having a book store in you lot pocket... I miss public libraries.

Coeus (author) from All over the world so some. on January 18, 2008:

Darien: I had a expect at your hub, and I call back it'southward a great idea. Do you have a website or something where I can have a closer look at this?

At the moment, I recollect the best identify for writers to publish first works is in magazines or online. The first gives them the opportunity to 'pitch' their writing to an established base of readers, and the second allows them to grow this group from scratch.

Again, I'd love to hear more on this.

Coeus (author) from All over the globe and then some. on January 06, 2008:

Thank you for that. Very kind. This is my offset hub, and I hope information technology helps!

James Nelmondo from Rome, Italy on January 06, 2008:

Very squeamish repsonse! I noticed the request but didn't recollect I could make a expert hub of it. Just goes to show. My hat off to y'all sir!

THoog.

hahncank1999.blogspot.com

Source: https://discover.hubpages.com/literature/Ebooks-Versus-Paper-Books-The-Pros-and-Cons

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