Digital Vs. Physical Books

I want to state right off the top that I don’t consider myself to be a “reader.” I am capable of reading, and previously I did read books, but it was rare. Part of the reason that I don’t consider myself terribly well-read is that I sit next to my wife, who can tear through a series of books in a week where I would struggle to get through half of a book at the same time. That being said, I decided that I would make an effort to read more actively. One of the things that I came up against fairly early on was the difference between actual physical books and the books I could get on my Kindle. I want to be clear, for the purposes of what I was (and continue to be) reading, while I was reading some books hard copy and some on my Kindle, the ones I have that were hard copy I happen to have in my home anyways. When I started making reading a habit, I found that it was easier for me to read from my Kindle than in proper books.

LEGAL MUMBO JUMBO; I’m not affiliated with Kindle. In fact, for this post, I’m using the term “Kindle” colloquially. This could be an e-reader. I’m not affiliated with Amazon, and if you buy a Kindle based off this post, I don’t get anything for it…blah, blah, blah.

After reading quite a few books over the past 12 months, at least for me, I have come to a conclusion that will come as a galloping shock to precisely no one who knows me or has read any of the posts from the blog. Ready for it? Ok….here we go…

Digital books are better.

Now before the Bibliophiles go and print off this post so that they can burn it, I would like to explain my position. It’s not because I have issues with using paper. It’s much more of a set of practical reasons.

1) Reading “in the dark” – While I never (or haven’t as of this posting) been reading in the pitch black, when I’m reading in my bed at night, there was lower light and having a Kindle was much easier to use. The backlight, which is sensitive to how bright the room is, made it so that the backlight was less bright during the day, and it was more bright during the night. This was helpful for me because I didn’t need a backlight during the day. After all, the sun is out, and the easy transition into the nighttime made it so that I didn’t have to worry about manually switching the thing over from a day to a night mode. An added benefit of having the backlight turn off during the day is that it avoids unnecessary eye strain, which I used to get from previous models of Kindle that I used to own.

2) Reading “on the go” – Back when I was able to take the subway to go to work, I would occasionally bring a book along with me so that I could read during my commute. I have not been doing that for the past year or so, but I found that the Kindle was far easier to bring back and forth when I was doing it. First of all, the size of the Kindle doesn’t change, and it fits very easily in my briefcase, so it’s easy to carry. Traditional books can be a variety of different sizes (not to mention hardcover vs soft), so trying to fit some of the books that I’ve gone through into a briefcase has been tricky at the best of times. Also, when you’re travelling (when we were allowed to do that), there is nothing more aggravating than having to decide which books you want to bring on a flight or a long car ride. With your Kindle, you can bring as many books as you like.

3) Getting the next book to read – I have to admit, when I started my reading binge, I did make myself a list of what books I wanted to read. My long-time readers will know how much of a to-do list nerd I am, so having a list of what books I want to read is right up my alley. It makes it easier for me to decide what book is next to read. With the Kindle, getting the next book on your list is easy. When I had my first Kindle a few years back, it was aggravating because to purchase a book for your Kindle, you had to log into your account from your computer and buy the book, which would then show up in your Kindle. I expressed this frustration to my wife recently when she told me that you can now buy the books off your Kindle. I gave it a go, and she was right. This makes it SOOO much easier to get a book so that when you finish a book on your list (if you have one), then all you need do is search the next book in the Kindle store and buy it right there and keep on reading. It’s absolutely fantastic.

Another thing that I like about the Kindle because (Showing my age here) you can adjust the size of the font on the page. I have, in my office, sitting on the shelf, a box set of the Hobbit and Lord of the Rings. I have always vowed that I would read LOTR one day, but whenever I read from those particular hard copy books, the font is so small that I get a headache ten pages in. When I get to reading Lord of the Rings (one day…) I will purchase it on Kindle so that I can make the font extra large for my eyes.

E-readers (I know I’ve been saying Kindle this whole time) are great because they provide a quick and easy way to get books. The one thing that I’ve figured out through doing this exercise is that it’s important for people to read books, and if I’m honest, I’ll very likely still read a few hard copy books every once and a while. I believe that the trick is that you need to find something you want to read. As an example, I found a series of adventure books by a gentleman named Steve Berry, which follow the adventures of Cotton Malone, an ex-US agent who finds himself on adventures that almost always end up having some historical backdrop. I’m about eight books into the series, and It’s terrific. Find something you want to read and go for it; just consider getting it on your Kindle first.

Where do you like to get your reading done?

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