No to Electronic Book Readers
When she is under my pillow, I feel a kind of connection with her…
I have been reading books since I was eight years old. Nearing my half century now, when I remember the titles of the books which I have already read, more than 18000 including novels and course books, I feel that I am richer than millions of people in this world.
I have been publishing paperbacks and e books both but I am in flavor of real books-solid books printed on papers. The electronic book readers were very fascinating when they were introduced but what I have found with the young readers is that they buy e book readers out of fashion and not out of necessity.
The feel of the pages, the sound of the crisp paper, the ease of earmarking any page, the companionship, and many other positive aspects of the real books have the power to survive this electronic storm all around. No doubt the e book readers like Kindle, Sony, Iliad, and many others present amazing features but somewhere deep down I find the soul is missing. I don’t know why but I have often found that the kids always revert to original books.
My youngest daughter has a storehouse of e books on her computer and e book reader, but she is more pleased and obliged when I gift her a bundle of real books. I feel she finds companions in them, may be because the e books are intangible and the real books in her hand give her a feeling of belonging.
Overall reading habit is decreasing in this world. In our times, it was normal to read books for about eight to ten hours in a day but now it is felt that the new generation, and specially the school going kids, find it hard to concentrate on any book for more than an hour or two. It may be because of the easy accessibility to e books on various sites. They collect the numbers but the quality is missing.
“Far from the Madding Crowd” by Thomas Hardy was one such book which kept me lost for whole summer in 1970s. The lines presented the scenes in real in front of your eyes. I read books on computers and e book readers but they are like the fleeting conglomeration of thoughts. I think with the time the new generation will realize the difference between the real and intangible. I don’t mean to say that the e books are different in content from the real books, but I do feel that the aura, the ambiance, the atmosphere, the feel, that is created by the real books is missing.
So, long live paperbacks and hardcovers.
God bless you
Rajasir
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