Well, books are nothing but the art
of literary works. Starting from the very primitive era where ‘The Epic of
Gilgamesh’ had been recorded as the first written story to the present-day
world where the concept of e-books has been established, the primary motive of
an individual is to achieve success. And for achieving the success he tries to
bring down the atmosphere to as comfortable as he can.
Late 20th century and early 21st century has witnessed many great inventions. The
invention and increased usage of smartphones and tablets are probable what has
lead to the popularization of e-books, even changing the attitude of people
towards reading altogether. So much have these inventions affected people that
some are now of the view
that E-books are the death of paper books while some people still believe in
the old traditional way of reading.
For me, it is somewhat a
different concept. Surveys conducted by several agencies have revealed that
every passing year witnesses a gradual increase in the number of e-book
readers. This data supports the fact that e-books may become the death of paper
books.
In fact, many avid readers now support
the concept of e-books simply because of the various advantages it has. One of
such several advantages is that there is much lesser weight to carry. Earlier
one needed to carry heavy books from one place to another but with the coming
of e-books this problem has been annihilated. Also, the concept of sustainable
development is also being propagated through the notion of online reading.
But I still hold a strong support towards
the traditional way of reading literature i.e. through paper books; I
am still a paper book lover. It's just pleasing to fondle with a book, the
sweet smell of the pages, and the heave of the book. The majority is of the
opinion that continuous reading can only be done on paper books. Online reading
will obviously give more strain to your eyes than paper reading and thus one
cannot develop a continuous flow in e-books. It's
usually painful to read on a screen; often people end up taking printout which
ultimately costs them a lot of money. Once, while
reading an e-book I noticed that the novel was 80% finished as given in the
device, but in reality, I had already
completed the book. The remaining 20% included the summary of the novel, an
interview with the author, and acknowledgment
as expressed by the author. Paper books are far superior when it comes to
letting you know your place in a book, and that's why the author prefer them.
A majority are of the view that e-books
are far more accessible than paper books. But this concept is clearly negated
by the fact that for having an access to e-books
one must have a proper device for it, i.e. one must have a Smartphone or a
Tablet or any other device equipped for it. For this, one needs to have the
financial resources. People from the lower income groups may not have proper
resources to get an access to the e-books. On the other hand, one can easily go
into a library and study all they want without such heavy expense. Therefore
paper books are far more accessible.
The
advancement of technology is like a double-edged sword which has affected
E-books as well. There are many websites which offer us to download the E-book
for free. But the official distribution site of that particular E-book charges us in order to have a complete view.
These malicious websites have certainly infringed the copyright right of the
official site.
Another facet which further supports my
point is that in an e-book the format needs to be compatible with the device
intended to be used. If it is not compatible then it could become an
inconvenience to readers.
I do not mean to say that paper books
will prevail over e-books. As the synonym goes ‘loss and gain are brothers twain’, the intention here is
to highlight the advantages and disadvantages of the upcoming concept of
e-books.
Despite the disadvantages of e-books,
there are also many advantages. E-books will definitely have an edge over paper
books simply because the amount of comfort it provides to the readers and also
because of the technological advancements taking place.
This, however, does not mean that it will
lead to the death of paper books. Paper books will never be exterminated. The
dictum of ‘old is gold’ absolutely fits this situation. Both e-books, as well
as paper books, are appropriate in their own places; there is a time and place for both. They are
like two parallel lines which will never intersect each other. What counts at
the end of the day is the hard work and the amount of success one has achieved.
In a nutshell, I feel that in spite of
the rapid advancement of e-books, paper books will
never ever disappear.
Written By:
Tanveer Singh Patheja
III Year
Disclaimer: The views and opinions expressed in the article are those of the author and do not reflect the views and opinions of the Blog.
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