In Praise of Paper
by Chris
Their lips pursed, their eyes like pancakes, friends and strangers often ask me, “What do you mean you don’t have a Kindle?” I mean that, yes, I prefer a paper book. Readers of e-books, please tell me your secrets. By the time I’ve returned from the office, a day’s dose of the computer has jellied my brain, yet you turn on your device, summon chapter 12, and stare at another screen.
When I read books, I am leveling trees. When I’m 70 and my library has ladders, I’ll have leveled a forest. Reader of e-books, you are a better friend to than environment than I am. Now, can you please tell me how, on nothing but air, your digital page buzzes to life?
Click on that digital page. Poof, a dictionary defines the selected word. A handy service, I admit. But when I find a word I don’t know in my paper book, I reach into my pocket and there’s an iPhone. On that phone I have two dictionaries: the OED and the American Heritage. I’d start talking dictionaries, but I want you to keep reading.
On the subway, people bump me while I’m reading. I’d be worried if my book didn’t cost me $3 at the used bookstore on Washington Street. I tuck the book into my bag. Leaving the train, I push through the turnstile and it smashes into my bag on the way back up. Your e-reader? Destroyed.
Turn on a healthy e-reader. Browse the list of titles. Pick one, pay, and a satellite beams the text to your device; skip the intro and start on chapter one. Nobody can beam me a paper book, nobody other than Amazon.com (they beam by USPS), but no matter, because nothing matches the experience of going to a dusty bookstore.
Some of my favorite memories from college were in the used bookstore, Webster’s, where I ate a bagel sandwich, drank coffee, and read almost every day before class my senior year. I’d stalk between the shelves and crack open a tome. I’d breathe in the smell; it opens your mind as the smell of grill smoke opens your stomach. The page’s scant notes? Gifts from a fellow reader. The notes you will add to page? Something to reflect on when you’ve climbed down from your library’s ladder.
could not agree with you more
As a librarian-in-training with an inclination towards the rare books section, I say huzzah to this post!
I confess I read both – Kindle and paper. But I agree with you that nothing beats browsing the shelves of a slightly musty second-hand bookshop.
I do both, I am actually traveling with books and Ipad on which I have downloaded books.The tablet it ‘s just easier to handle for a night reader, no need of other lights but the pleasure of choosing a book in a bookstore and turning page is still the best..
I have the Nook, which I use for reading sometimes, but still get most of my books from the library. However, I would not say that e-readers are good to the environment. I feel guilty owning one. Just another electronic device to fill up the landfill, and that will surely be obsolete within a year.
Delizie,
Maybe I’d get an e-reader for traveling. I once lugged twelve or so books with me on a summer-long trip. A tablet would have lightened my suitcase and made the going easier. For night reading, I can’t imagine staying up late with anything but a paper book. A computer doesn’t emit the pleasant, old-world vibe of a lamp-lit page after dark.
Chris
Amen!
I must have paper. And I have piles of books and need to build bookshelves. This is lovely.
I have both and appreciate the portability of books for my Kindle app on the iPad when I travel. A week long vacation used to mean a stack of books (at least six) and now that the airline charges for bags, it’s nice to have a half-dozen books in my carry-on. I’d be lugging the iPad along anyway so I’ve killed two birds with one device.
Sharon, your solution also solves the problem of moving. Am I going to lug my library with me every time I change addresses? Three birds!
Lovely post.
I like the little presents one finds in used books: notes in margins, grocery lists, photographs. One time, I found a painting. Physical books have magic in their weight and smells; used books have ten times more.
Completely agreed. There are different senses involved with reading from a book and reading from a screen. I still prefer books to screens.
Nice post. Paper books are the way I prefer to read, as well.
Love this post, Couldn’t agree more,
I do prefer that nice musty smell of an old bookstore. A little part of me gets really sad every time I see a book being sold primarily through e-readers, but that’s the world today. Millions of dollars are spent trying to imitate a book. Luckily, it’ll never be perfect, so there will always be dusty bookstores
I think you miss out on so much by reducing books to nothing more than words on a screen!
there is something about the smell and the feel of the paper and the weight of a book in your hand. I am young but I am old school when it comes to books! I liked this post. thank you
I don’t own a Kindle either. And I only read from a desktop version if it’s absolutely necessary and the book is not in print. Nothing will ever take the place of books, the texture and smell of the paper, the eagerness of flipping the pages to get on with the adventure…it’s all part of the experience and magic of having a printed book.