10 years of reading e-books
Wednesday, November 22, 2017 at 05:26AM Amazon's Kindle turns 10, The Guardian
I was a late adopter to ebook reading. My quick research shows I did not order my first Kindle until June 2008 (for a price tag of nearly $400!) a full seven months after the intital release.
I had been, however, excited about digital readers and reading long before:
- The Future of Books, April 1995
- The Future of Books Revisited - May 2000
- Emotional reactions to the Kindle Nov 2007
and I have continued to think about digital resources' impact on schools, libraries, and readers ever since...
- The E-book Non-Plan, October 2010
I read almost no print books at all. I read ebooks (and magazines) not just on my Kindle (third one?), but on my iPad, Chromebook, phone, and desktop computer. My home library has shrunk to a few sentimental volumes while my Amazon library is now at 443 volumes and I increasingly check out ebooks from the public library.
To my mind, the shift from analog to digital reading sources is a no-brainer so I am always befuddled by the degree of push-back I receive when suggesting school libraries replace (selected) parts of their collections with ebooks. Shouldn't librarians (and educators in general) be progressive and innovative and future-thinking?
Part of the reactionary stance is justified by citing sources that show students do not like or learn from ebooks as well as print books.
...students experience with e-books include eye strain, distractions, a lack of overview, inadequate navigation features and insufficient annotation and highlighting functionality. They also find it unnecessarily complicated to download DRM-protected e-books. Why doesn't everyone love reading e-books? Caroline Myrberg, UKSG Insights
Really? Eye strain? (Ever read a print book in dim light?) Distractions? (Like a text message ding can't be heard when reading a print book?) Inadequate navigation features? (Search vs TOC and index?) Give me a break.
Educators need to put aside their sentimental attachment to physical books and help all student take full advantage of digital reading and learning opportunities. After all, I've survived without mental atrophy for 10 years of reading electronically.
Well, not much atrophy, I hope.
Book vs Kindle chart source originally from Valleywag.gawker.com now defunct.
Reader Comments (4)
Well, I think so as we are living in a digital world and every thing now has turned to be online. So, reading books, magazines and newspapers in the printed form is been phased out by the digital and online ones. More and more people are adopting towards this way of reading.
As far as I am concerned, I used to read about 20-30 different books, magazines and newspapers. But, since I have now turned towards the e-book, I don't remember reading any book in the printed form in the last six months or more.
Thank You.
Student backpacks - enough said. I am 6'-2" tall and have been an athlete all my life, and I don't think I could carry most of the backpacks my students lug round every day.
As a high school librarian for over 16 years, you would think I only love print books. NOT SO!! I love my Kindle (3rd one also) and the ease of carrying an entire library with me where ever I go. While our meager budget does not allow for us to purchase many e-books, I am trying to work diligently to let students know the various resources out there for e-books outside of the school. We have free access to Tumblebooks and the wonderful resource of the public library. Many of our students do not know that there is a public library 5 miles from here! Using the Overdrive app, TONS of materials are easily at their fingertips. We are a 1:1 Chromebook County in Georgia, so I'm working to let them know how to access these wonderful services on their devices. Now if only the teachers will allow them to read e-books in class and not insist on only print ...
Hi Sandy,
I appreciate the comment. We have worked on replacing print non-fiction used for research and of course reference materials with digital resources, and like you, rely on our great public libraries to help fill the need for fiction and popular non-fiction ebooks. (We have a program that gives every secondary student his/her fine-free library card.)
Teachers won't allow ebooks to be read in class? That's too bad.
All the best,
Doug