Paper books have been around for thousands of years and have stayed as one of the best ways of containing lots of information and stories. However, as the human race has developed more and technology has become more prominent in our lives, a new challenger to the book has come to the stage: the electronic book. Compared to the book, the electronic book, or known as the e-book, seems capable of doing a lot more than the standard paper book, but does it live up to its name? Some could argue that paper books give a better reading experience and reduce screen time, but I believe those are less significant than the upsides of e-books. In my opinion, e-books are better than paper books because of cost, convenience, and customizability along with overall better capabilities that out-perform paper books.
One difference between paper books and e-books are the resources necessary for e-books in comparison to paper books. Since paper books require the cutting of trees for paper to create physical books, they contribute quite a bit into deforestation and ultimately climate change as well. According to Commercial Waste, 14% of deforestation is done to create books, and the processing of that wood takes resources too, costing around 4 cups of water per-page (Towler, 2022). In addition to raw materials, e-books require less money once you have a device capable of reading e-books on. While initial cost of this device can seem to cost way more than actual books, purchasing e-books cost less due to no resources being necessary to produce those books. On average, your average hardcover book costs around $25 and the average paperback costs around $10-15 (SLJ, 2022). This is much different than the average cost of an e-book, which is around $3-6 (Mill City Press).
Another major advantage that e-books have over paper books is the convenience of e-books compared to paper books. E-books are able to be accessed from basically anywhere with an electronic device, while a paper book requires you to possess the physical book when wanting to read it. This can prove to be a hassle for hardcore readers who read multiple books at a time, and need to use extra time and energy to store or maintain the books. Finally, e-books have the ability to be customized to better suit the reader. This includes but is not limited to: text size, font, background color, page size; the list goes on and on. Can't read what's on the page? Make the text size bigger. Read better in cursive? Change the font to cursive. There is so much freedom in e-books that make e-books better compared to standard books, but are they?
E-books have risen in popularity over the past years, and have been proven a worthy challenger to the long-lasting paperback book. While I mention many advantages of e-books, I believe paper books will still remain the dominating style for quite a while. You may ask, why is that? I think accessibility is a pretty big problem that will hold off e-books from many parts of the world. Since e-books require technology and devices, sending out millions of electronics to people in need will be much more costly than sending out millions of "pieces of paper". Additionally, the financial status of people can affect whether or not the purchase books in general, including e-books. Maybe in the future will e-books rise above the reign of the paper book, starting a new era where future kids will ask: what are paper books?
Works Cited
Towler, Breton. "Electrical Waste E-readers vs books: Which are better for the environment?" Commercial Waste, 31 May 2022, commercialwaste.trade/e-readers-vs-books-better-environment/#:~:text=Paper%20books%20contribute%20heavily%20to,water%2C%20energy%2C%20and%20chemicals. Accessed 5 May 2023.
"SLJ Average Book Prices 2021-2022." School Library Journal, 2 Mar. 2022, www.slj.com/story/slj-average-book-prices-2022. Accessed 5 May 2023.
"How to Price an Ebook." Mill City Press, www.millcitypress.net/author-learning-hub/ebook/how-to-price-your-ebook/#:~:text=In%20fact%2C%20the%20most%20commonly,more%20money%20selling%20fewer%20books. Accessed 5 May 2023.
This is a really good topic. I thought it was very interesting how you compared the cost in terms of resources of paper books to e-books. Personally, I still prefer to read paper books, because I find that staring at a screen hurts my eyes after a while.
ReplyDeleteI really enjoyed reading this blog post and I think that you bring up some good points! I think that your thoughts about convenience, customization, and resources make for a valid argument in support of e-books. The only idea that I have which contradicts your blog is that you argue "hard core" readers should have e-books so that they don't have to carry around many books. But, if "hard-core" readers are reading many books at once, a library with physical books may be cheaper than purchasing them all on an e-book.
ReplyDeleteI personally still like paperback because of resources like a library. For E-books I feel that it could be more convenient for buying books, but most books I read once. For the waste, I would be interested in the fact if books that are made into e-books were already made into paperbacks.
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