Do you prefer printed books to e-books?

The quality of e-readers on the market and their numbers are improving and the prices are coming down. Am I likely to become an e-reader? For the moment the answer is a definite no.

I love the traditional method of reading. On the other hand, my elder brother is a great lover of e-books and we often have arguments about the advantages and disadvantages of both these methods of reading. It has to be pointed out that my brother is a gadget freak. Often, he tires quite quickly of the gizmos he acquires, but he seems to have kept his enthusiasm for his e-reader.

I love the physical appeal of books. I like the look of them, the feel of them and the smell of them. I enjoy the physical act of turning the pages. To me there is nothing quite like savouring the thought of a new book written by one of my favourite authors, sitting on my bedside table waiting to be read.

I really enjoy reading in bed. It always reminds me of my early childhood days when I used to read a book illicitly under the duvet by means of a torch after my parents had put the light out. To this day I cannot go to sleep without reading at least for a short time.

My brother says that I am being stupidly sentimental about printed books. He says that there is absolutely no reason why

I should not use an e-reader in bed. Apart from anything else, an e-reader is, in many cases, lighter than a book. This he points out, allows e-books to be carried about quite easily, thus making them much more useful than printed books. When you are going on holiday, for example, and wanting to do some leisure reading, you can carry a huge number of e-books in very little space. Traditional books take up valuable packing space.

My brother also claims that I have a sentimental attachment to the keeping and storage of books. I am very sad if I have to part with one. Since both my parents also love and treasure books, they regularly have to buy or build new bookcases in order to shelve their new books. Before they do so there are piles of books everywhere.

My parents’ attitude to books has not been inherited by my brother. He has a very small, very tidy flat in which piles of books would have no place. He regards them as clutter. He says that one of the reasons why he is in favour of e-books is that they take up far less room than traditional ones.

My brother argues that reading material on-screen has become the usual way of doing things in many people’s lives. They use computers for work and often use them for leisure also, for example for playing computer games or surfing the Net. In these days of the paperless office, they are more likely to turn to e-books than printed books for leisure reading. I argue that reading a traditional book is a welcome change from reading a screen.

In our family we all care about the future of the environment. My brother says that, because of this, we should all be reading e-books. They save trees from being cut down, save the cost of disposing of old printed books and save fuel on the transportation of printed books. I accept this argument, but I would find it very difficult to give up printed books, even for the sake of the environment. I regard them as my friends.