Bound books beat ebooks despite convenience

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kindleMy friends and I always seem to drift off into tangents about random obscure scenarios, preferences or stances.

One day the question came up and all of us seemed pretty divided across the board, “Which is better: Kindles or books?”

I know that some people will say “Kindles are books…”

But for some reason I can never put them in the same category.

Books are actual tangible pieces of page-turning paper.

Kindles are a more convenient, somewhat cheaper way of reading.

Some of my buddies decided to go into the military over the last couple of years.

I looked into their packs and most of them all had Kindles ready for their departures.

In a way, I was almost disappointed; they explained that because they will be gone for so long, it’s just easier to tote around a plethora of books without breaking your back.

With college textbooks always updating to the newest most expensive edition, it would seem like you would get more for your money than just bringing it to class for the first week and then never using it again.

The digital editions of textbooks have made it a lot easier for students to rent their overpriced required reading for a fraction of the cost.

Some teachers are still reluctant to allow students to bring in their technology as books and other studying tools.

Technology can still be considered a distraction and is easily dismissed from some classrooms.

Kindles and tablets have made novels, textbooks, and whatever else is worth reading, more accessible to the masses.

But for some reason I just can’t fully get on board with this easy alternative.

Two years ago my grandma passed away and my mother was set with the task of cleaning out her house.

The nostalgia she discovered inside layers upon layers of memories and junk was pretty overwhelming: photos from as early as the 1930’s, journals and sketches of future paintings she would never get to finish and most of all there was an immense collection of books.

There is just something about opening up a real live book and smelling the pages of the past; even the pages of freshly printed ink have this aroma that sends a smile across my face and makes me relax.

What will my grandchildren find in my house when I pass away? Flash drives? Burned CDs and DVDs? A tablet?

When the lights go out on our laptops what will we be leaving the next generation?

These are questions that I cannot ignore and make me so much more passionate about keeping tangible knowledge.

We can move forward in our search for better and cheaper ways to make life a whole lot easier, but the past with ink on our fingertips and ways of searching for answers without Google cannot be forgotten.