Print Books vs. Digital Books

1 - I can do better 2 - Jury's out 3 - Pretty darn good 4 - Splendiferous 5 - Awesometastic by 7 people | Log in to rate

Ranked #1,132 in Arts , #23,207 overall

Paper Books vs. E-Books

Books have been around, well, for centuries. Their demise has been predicted for years, but somehow they've managed to survive. Electronic readers have come (and mostly) gone, victims of bad software, limited title selection and high prices. But now, the Amazon Kindle seems to have taken off. Will this be the end of bound books?

I say no! Books are better! However, I'm willing to listen to the other side. Here's my take, then tell me what you think.

photo by janetmck on Flickr

11 Reasons Printed Paper Books are Better Than Digital Books 

1. You can take a book on vacation, to the beach, or to the park (and leave it behind without guilt).

2. Printed books are available everywhere. There are books in bookstores, airports, supermarkets, libraries, and yard sales.

3. Books are versatile and re-usable. You can share them. When you're finished reading a book, you can put in on a shelf (and remember the story when you look at it). You can share it with a friend, or you can sell it used on Amazon and get some of your money back.

4. There are millions and millions of book titles in print. Books in Print offers a database of 7.5 million titles in the US alone.

5. You never have to upgrade your e-book software, or buy a new e-reader to use your printed books. Digital data degrades over time and software becomes obsolete. Books can last for centuries.

6. No batteries required. You don't need a computer, an Internet connection, or special tools to read a printed bound book.

7. Books are cheap. Used books on Amazon cost as little as 1 cent.

8. You can use old books to hold your new books. Stack them up, lay wooden boards on them, and create bookshelves.

9. Books don't melt or break. You can leave a book out in the sun or in a hot car.

10. You buy it, you own it. E-books can be deleted from your reader by the seller. Books are yours. Period.

11. No DRM (digital rights management). You can read your printed book at any time or any place (on the bus, in your living room, in your den, etc.). You don't need separate versions for different places or technologies, such as one copy for your smartphone, another for your digital reader, and a third for your computer.

YOUR TURN! 

Which is better? Printed Books or Digital Books?

Loading Fetching blurbs now... please stand by

There are way more books in print than I can ever read! Hooray!

Payten says:

Printed books are better because you can get more involved in the story because when i read a "real book" its like i become part of the story as one of the characters but when i read a digital story i kept getting lost (i lost my place) and i didn't retain as much as i did when i read it from a book

Payten says:

Printed books because they are textile and help some concentrate better than staring off into cyber space (which is what i do)

Betsy Robinson says:

You can't dog-ear pages of an e-book. You can't run into something you didn't know you were looking for when you page through a reference book that's digital. There is no visceral adventure, no ability to lie on your couch contemplating some amazing thing you just read without the feeling that you're using up electricity while you contemplate. I have made an e-book for actors looking for monologues that I sell on my website. They can print out whatever short piece they want from it. But for pure reading pleasure, it's got to be a printed book.

Amitabh1702 says:

The smell of a fresh book, the feel of crisp paper when I turn a page - no digital book can ever replace a printed book. Plus the fact that I can take a printed book when I retire to the WC :-)
Not tried the Amazon Kindle yet, though!

Frankster says:

I love the feel, the smell and the look of books. I like to underline and I can remember which side of the page, how far into a book something is, which I like. I also like not having to worry about running out of juice or having software or hardware problems.

chefkeem says:

I love the atmosphere in small book stores. Browsing the selection and chatting it up with the proud owner is priceless and can't be found in the digital world.

Print is sooo 14th century! GIve me digital!

JaguarJulie says:

You know I have to ride the fence on this debate as there is a place for printed books as is there a place for digital! I think the classics, the bible, and coffee table books belong in print. But, give me digital so that I can use my Kindle!

Bodybychocolates says:

I would have to agree that books are old but when I want to set in the tub it isn't easy to read an ebook so it just depends on the type of matterial weather book is better or ebook is better and the length is also important.

Murphy says:

I agree for reading pleasure it has to be the printed book. But for studying I have discovered that digital books are not that bad, given you find the right ones. It is much easier (and faster) to search for the terms I'm looking for. Plus books providing short theory overiews such as from bookboon definitely help me in getting things done - this way I have more time reading the books I want to read for pleasure. So overall, I would say it is the mix.

 

Some of my favorite books (and they're not available on Kindle) 

Snow in August

A friendship between a young Irish boy who loves Captain Marvel and an aging rabbi seems as unlikely as well, snow in August. Michael (the young boy) teaches the rabbi about English and baseball, while the rabbi shares the teachings of kabbalah and stories about Jewish life in Prague. When an Irish gang beats up the rabbi, it seems only Captain Marvel (or the mystical golem) can save him.

Avg. Customer Rating: Amazon Rating

Amazon Price: $7.99 (as of 12/18/2009) Buy Now

Moving Violations: War Zones, Wheelchairs, and Declarations of Independence

A car accident left reporter John Hockenberry paralyzed from the chest down. Despite this, he manages to navigate through war zones in the Middle East, up mountainsides, and around exploding volcanoes. He says, "In America access is always about architecture and never about human beings. Among Israelis and Palestinians, access was rarely about anything but people. While in the U.S. a wheelchair stands out as an explicitly separate experience from the mainstream, in the Israel and Arab worlds it is just another thing that can go wrong in a place where things go wrong all the time."

Avg. Customer Rating: Amazon Rating

Amazon Price: $15.95 (as of 12/18/2009) Buy Now

The Good Earth (Enriched Classics)

This novel was awarded the 1932 Pulitzer Prize and it's still a winner, over 70 years later. Wang Lung is a poor and illiterate peasant farmer. He goes to town to buy a bride, but can only "afford" O-lan, a plain, hardworking slave woman. She turns out to be good luck. As time goes on, Wang Lung's fortune's change, but as he grows richer, he also grows greedier. The more he has, the more he wants, and the more he "needs". It's a story of what happens when a poor man suddenly succeeds, and how that success changes him.

Avg. Customer Rating: Amazon Rating

Amazon Price: $6.99 (as of 12/18/2009) Buy Now

Things Fall Apart: A Novel

"Things Fall Apart, is a relentlessly unsentimental rendering of Nigerian tribal life before and after the coming of colonialism. First published in 1958, just two years before Nigeria declared independence from Great Britain, the book eschews the obvious temptation of depicting pre-colonial life as a kind of Eden. Instead, Achebe sketches a world in which violence, war, and suffering exist, but are balanced by a strong sense of tradition, ritual, and social coherence. His Ibo protagonist, Okonkwo, is a self-made man. The son of a charming ne'er-do-well, he has worked all his life to overcome his father's weakness and has arrived, finally, at great prosperity and even greater reputation among his fellows in the village of Umuofia...He is also a man who exhibits flaws well-known in Greek tragedy:

...His whole life was dominated by fear, the fear of failure and of weakness... It was not external but lay deep within himself. It was the fear of himself, lest he should be found to resemble his father.

And yet Achebe manages to make this cruel man deeply sympathetic...Unfortunately, a series of tragic events tests the mettle of this strong man, and it is his fear of weakness that ultimately undoes him." --Alix Wilber (Amazon)

Avg. Customer Rating: Amazon Rating

Amazon Price: $7.92 (as of 12/18/2009) Buy Now

Callahan's Crosstime Saloon

Be warned! This book is extremely punny. Reading it may result in bouts of laughing out loud, sore stomachs, and tears running down your cheeks. Find out how a seemingly ordinary bar in Long Island, New York manages to attract some decidedly unusual patrons, including time travelers, cyborgs, and empaths.

"If one were given the task of creating Spider Robinson from scratch, the best way to do it would be to snatch James Joyce from history, force-feed him Marx Brothers films and good jazz for the better part of a decade, then turn him loose on a world badly in need of a look at itself."-Vancouver Sun"

Avg. Customer Rating: Amazon Rating

Amazon Price: (as of 12/18/2009) Buy Now

Great Stuff on Amazon 

Mighty Bright XtraFlex2 Light (Silver)

This light has not one, but two bulbs. You can use one or both, so it's extra bright when you need it. It uses regular AAA batteries, so you don't need to go out and get the odd coin-shaped kind. The neck bends so you can point the light exactly where you want it.

Amazon Price: $15.99 (as of 12/18/2009) Buy Now

Twelve Monet Bookmarks (Small-Format Bookmarks)

Don't lose your place. These bookmarks feature scenes from some of Monet's most famous paintings, including the water lilies in his garden at Giverny and the Rouen Cathedral.

Amazon Price: $1.50 (as of 12/18/2009) Buy Now

Twelve Celtic Bookmarks (Small-Format Bookmarks)

Printed on heavy stock, these bookmarks have traditional geometric designs, and rich colors. And hey, at this price, you can treat yourself without feeling guilty.

Amazon Price: $1.50 (as of 12/18/2009) Buy Now

Feed Your Book Addiction Here 

Which Book
Don't know what to read? Try this site for suggestions. Select genre, type of character, or theme to get options.
Book Chat Central
A worldwide network of people who love books. If you need "enablers," this is the place.
Library Thing
Catalog your library online (for free). Get recommendations from your friends.

RELATED NEWS: FODDER FOR ARGUING MORE 

Dueling E-Book Readers
With BOTH kindle and nook, you can read books you've purchased on your computer in addition to the ebook. They are all quite the same in this regard, ...
Amazon's Kindle winning battle, but Adobe poised to win e-book war
"Customers want to decide which devices they read their e-books on," said Adobe's Bogaty, former executive director of the International Digital Publishing ...
Ten Predictions For The E-Reader/E-Book Market In 2010
Apps will make non-reading devices more e-book-friendly. E-readers like the Kindle have catalyzed demand for digital reading: e-books have been around for ...
Amazon Kindle: Neues Lesefutter per Mobilfunk
November 2009 Vielbestaunt, kaum gekauft: Auf der diesjährigen Buchmesse standen die E-Books abermals im Rampenlicht des Interesses, die Rede ist von der ...

What do you say?  

submit
  • Reply
    Jodi_k Jodi_k Oct 26, 2009 @ 8:10 am | in reply to Flynn_the_Cat
    Glad you liked it! Thanks for the lensroll!
  • Reply
    Flynn_the_Cat Flynn_the_Cat Oct 26, 2009 @ 6:45 am
    Ah! Perfect debate to lensroll on my Gunnerkrigg court lens! (webcomic vs book? :D )
  • Reply
    messel messel Mar 3, 2009 @ 8:17 am
    Hello Jodi_K,
    Great comparison of books to eBooks lens!
    I added a link to this on my http://www.squidoo.com/KindleTwo lens, and would love it if you would like to join two new groups I formed today.
    http://www.squidoo.com/groups/Kindle2
    http://www.squidoo.com/groups/eReaders
    The idea is to get some interlense links cooking for all the Kindle 2, and eReader interest/info we squid members have.
  • Reply
    Jillster Jillster Feb 17, 2009 @ 1:56 pm
    While I'm curious to try a Kindle, I have to admit, living without real, tactile, sniffable, paper books you can hold next to your heart is just not living to me. As Sondheim had his female lead say in Passion, "I live to read, I read to live." Somehow, that encompasses the physical experience too.

    Virtual books just don't fulfill the need, any more than virtual sex. The real and virtual bear some relationship to each other, but the latter might as well be a hologram in that it engages only one sense. A little extreme? Perhaps. But to an addict there is no such thing as moderation. (Ahem, a book addict that is LOL)
  • Reply
    Frankster Frankster Jan 6, 2009 @ 10:25 am
    An excellent lens. After spending at least 8 hours a day in front of a computer, I prefer my pleasure reading and even some of my business-type reading in my chair with a real book. 5 stars. Bear hugs, Frankie aka Bearmeister
  • Load More

by Jodi_k

Hello, my name is Jodi and I'm a book addict. There I've said it. It all started when I taught myself to read at age 3. My mom says I learned by wat... (more)

Explore related pages

Create a Lens!