I'm a big supporter of e-readers (whether you use your phone or
pda or whatever. I use this term to loosely transmit reading
electronically vs reading from paper). So I'm going to gush. I
believe that e-readers is the next evolution to reading after
lithographic printing.
When lithographic printing was invented, it started a knowledge
revolution. For the first time, knowledge is no longer the reserved
property of a select group. It became a product of a mass medium
that allows access to many levels of humanity. It is the invention
that paved the way for widespread literacy.
So I have to say I love books and I do not think that ereaders
will replace books just like the video did not kill the radio
star.
This widespread literacy is what we needed for the second
knowledge revolution - that of the internet. Now the transmission
of information is even more amazing that before!
With the start of the creative commons license - we now have
access to books and ideas without being managed by a middle man
(publisher) who decides for us what is worth printing onto a book
and what isn't. WE can decide for ourselves what we want to read
because publishing has become a simple process of just uploading.
All this in a simple hand held package that we can take anywhere
with us.
My e-reader easily have hundreds more books than my home library
and I have them with me ALL THE TIME! I also can include
reference material etc, anything I need (like crochet patterns) for
me to look at when I want to :D
An e-reader that operates using e-ink is better than those with
backlighting because it will not burn your eyeballs off. However, I
like to use both types cos I can read when the hubby is asleep and
don't have to turn on a night light. BUT what I like about an
e-ink ereader is the SUPER LOW energy consumption. YOu can read
about 5-6 books on one charge, as they only use energy when you
turn the page.
Compare that to the amount of energy consumption a book needs to
reach you.
Besides the efficient use of energy consumption - it also has
the clear benefit of saving trees. How much trash we know are using
up paper pulp to be published!!?? With ebook readers if you come
across a lousy book - you just need to press DELETE - no trees
killed in the process.Our heaps of notes we printed in school - do
we still keep them when ideas become obsolete? Sure we can recycle
- but again - the huge amount of energy consumption to recycle
resources...
Sure, I would still love to own a beautifully illustrated,
printed on textured paper book with those lovely frayed edge BUT if
more people convert to ereaders for our daily, informal reading,
then I think we can play our part in reducing paper usage, and
energy consumption.
