When I was looking over the books I read last year, I was a little surprised to see that of the 57 books I read, over half of them were ebooks. I read 30 books in ebook format last year.
Which made me think. I remember when ebooks first came out, I was not a fan. “It’s just not the same,” I would think. “I enjoy holding a book in my hands and turning the pages and the texture of the paper.”
But, a few years ago, I got a kindle.
And I love it.
I am slowly becoming an ebook lover. There are some things about ebooks I think are great and some things about ebooks are not great. Here are some of my thoughts about why I like ebooks:
Why ebooks are great:
They take up no room. I’m the type of person that always carries a book with her. When I go on vacation, I usually bring a minimum of 4 books to read. My carry-on bag is stuffed with books, along with my checked bag. I usually have to make a difficult decision of how many books I pack because I just don’t have room for them all. But you can read ebooks on a kindle or a tablet or your phone and since my kindle is only the size of a notebook, I can load that up with hundreds of books and have it take up hardly any room. This leaves lots of room in my purse for other things, like snacks!
You can take as many books as you want. Because the kindle (or tablet or phone) takes up hardly no room, you can take as many books as you want with you. Even if you’re just riding on the bus to work, it’s so nice to have a variety of books to choose from to read. I don’t have to pick a finite number of books to carry with me, I can take as many as I want. As every reader knows, one of the worse things that can happen when you travel is running out of books to read. Everyone has a nightmare of only bringing 4 books and reading those books right away. With ebooks, you can bring as many books as you want so you never run out of stuff to read.
It is instantaneous to buy or borrow a book. Look, if it’s 2:00 am and I want to start a new book, I can instantaneously buy or borrow a book and download it to my ebook account. I don’t have to wait for the physical book to arrive in the mail after I’ve ordered it online. I don’t have to wait for the bookstore to open so I can go buy it – plus, what if it’s not in stock at the bookstore? I don’t have to wait for the library to open so I can go check it out – and what if it’s a holiday and the library is closed?! Or what if I’m just being lazy that day and don’t want to make the trek to the library or bookstore?
Ebooks have a dictionary (at least my kindle does). Honestly, this is not a function I use very often. But, if I wanted to use it, I could. If there is a word that you don’t know, you can highlight it and the definition will come up on the screen. I think this is a great function of ebooks and I should probably use it more often, rather than just skipping over words I don’t know or am not sure of.
Ebooks are so easy to read in bed. My kindle is backlit so it’s super easy to read in the dark. You don’t have to have a lamp on or use a reading light (honestly I have yet to find a reading light that actually works well). My kindle also has a “blue shade” reading function that dims the backlight and cuts down on the amount of blue light that is emitted. I suspect that other tablets and phones have similar functions. Plus, you don’t have to fumble with turning the pages. My kindle can be held with only one hand and it’s super easy to scroll so I’m not constantly pulling one arm out of my comfy and warm covers. My kindle is also lightweight so if I fall asleep while reading and my kindle hits me in the head, it’s not as heavy as a hardback book.
And that’s why I think ebooks are great. Tomorrow I’ll post some thoughts about why I don’t like ebooks.
Yes to all of these reasons!