Pranay Nigotiya

I have been mulling over a subject for a while now, Books vs eBooks. Which is better? Being an avid reader for years I have loved each and every book I’ve ever read!  The experience of reading a book is wonderful and gives me an unmatchable satisfaction. Books for me have been textbooks from school and college, travel guides, fiction novels, magazines and even comics. All of them have been great reads.  Since the last decade or so the concept of eBooks has picked up and has been catering to a growing customer base across the globe. With people using laptops / eBook readers like Amazon’s Kindle OR Barnes & Noble’s Nook OR Sony eBook reader / SmartPhones / Tablets and the increasing variety of gadgets that support ebooks, they are grabbing attention.

Both forms of books have their pros and cons however. Basically both forms have same objective – making you read and giving you information. I feel that the medium is not as important as the content. Content is key regardless of whether you read digitally or from paper. eBooks can definitely help in enhancing the reading experience but not the matter being read. Here I would like to discuss their similarities and the differences that give one kind an edge over the other.

• Paperbooks are easily available at nearest bookstore and pretty portable usually. Sometimes they can get heavy and cumbersome to carry however. Ebooks are digital and can be carried in any device as small as a USB stick, in dozens.
• Books and e-books are both very varied in pricing. Sometimes an electronic version of a book can be available for a lesser price than the paperbook.
• Books generally don’t cause eye-strain when read in good light. eBooks can be feel heavy on the eyes after a particular point but depends on the reader.
• Books will always require a light (natural light or lamp) where eBooks are generally read on devices which have an inbuilt system of lighting.
• eBooks are read on devices which require battery or power to keep the devices running whereas the books don’t anything except the reader.
• Some people strongly recommend eBooks because it saves a lot of paper and are environment-friendly . Books, even when printed on recycled paper, lag behind in this aspect.