Welcome back friends! Hope you’re doing well. In my case, I try not to get drown or frozen as we’re continuously facing rain and cold here. Usual November.
Today I wanted to share with you my thoughts about books. I mean paper books and ebooks. Which one is better, for us, for the earth etc. It’s been a while since I started thinking about that matter, like many other subjects.
Along the last years and months, I’ve heard many people saying ebooks were fantastic, revolutionary and a sustainable way of reading. To put in a nutshell, a lot of people were enthusiastic about these modern and technological items.
Something you have to know about me, is that as long as everyone (or the majority of people) is enthusiastic about something, telling how wonderful it is and so on, then you can be sure I’m gonna step backwards with distrust. I hate trends and following these trends. I prefer to analyse that said trend and see if it’s useful for me, if it can bring happiness or something else to me. Then, if it suits me, I sometimes tend to wait it’s not trendy anymore. Probably because I don’t want to let people think I bought, adopted something because it was trendy. That maybe sounds a little bit silly, but this is how I work.
So, this is what happened with ebooks. Also, as a book lover, the idea of replacing my book collection with files stored in a computer or else didn’t have much appeal on me, I confess it.
For a while, I was just pushing away these ebooks, ignoring them. And I recently decided to think all this matter over, at last. And, spoilers ahead, it didn’t change my opinion, it rather reinforced it, actually. And now I have arguments, or at least reasons to expose when I’m asked why I reject ebooks. Because there is nothing worse to me than not being able to explain my opinions to others when they sent me to do so. How can I be credible and convince others when nothing supports my words and thoughts?!
So, why do I think paper books are far better than ebooks?
My reasons are divided into 3 categories. First, there is the sentimental point-of-view. I think many readers would agree with me that reading isn’t just about reading a text. It’s also about feeling the texture of the book, the smell of the paper. Also, we consider literature as art. Books aren’t pieces of art only because of the text written inside, the book itself is a piece of art through its look, its cover etc. With ebooks we lose these feelings and that artistic aspect.
Another point-of-view I have concerns social issues. In a world of paper books you can find libraries and bookshops. These places are social hubs. How many people met in the middle of thousands of books?! So, in a way, these book spaces allow people to create bounds. But would it be the same in a world of ebooks? I’m afraid not. People wouldn’t even need to go out to buy new books. They would just buy some on the internet, from their living-room. No more meeting with other people, no more bounding. There would be no human contact anymore.
Lastly, I look at this matter from a more health, sustainability etc point-of-view. It’s commonly known that computers and all that electronical stuff are harmful for eyes health. Furthermore, to read ebooks, you’ll need more energy than you would with a paper book. In today’s world, where energy consumption is such an important issue, this isn’t something not to look at.
Speaking of energy and pollution etc, did you know that producing computers, iPad, smartphones etc is far more harmful than producing paper books? You may wonder why and how such thing is possible. It’s quite simple. To produce paper, we need to cut trees. Most of the time these trees were grown with that purpose and after they were cut, other trees are planted to replace them. So the impact on earth isn’t as bad as that. Of course I personally think we should plant even more trees in the world and maybe make sure that paper industry keeps on staying reasonable and respectful. But this is not my subject today.
On the other hand, producing computers etc, these things you need to read your ebooks, is not quite the same thing. Actually this is one of the world most polluting industries, mainly because of thr rare-earth elements extraction. Moreover we know that electronical files, e-mails etc imply energy consumption and therefore pollution. So, ebooks may seem to be a sustainable alternative to conventional paper books, but in reality they’re not, on the contrary. They imply so much more energy consumption, pollution, energy dependence etc than traditional paper books do.
These are all the reasons why I don’t want to adopt ebooks and chose to stick with my beloved paper books all displayed on my shelves, furniture, well, everywhere.
I don’t know if I sounded convincing but I hope this post was at least interesting.
Do you have any thoughts or opinions on that matter? I would love to hear about it, I’m sure some of you have things to teach me. So feel free to comment and expose your views, I’m more than open to talks. 🙂
I still hope you enjoy this week post. Thank you once again for passing by and reading my blog.
I’ll talk to you soon in a next post,
Until then, take care of yourself ❤
Ady ❤
Little House of Ady 