e-book: not for me?

Last week Barnes & Nobles unveiled their version of the e-book reader, The Nook. It's very similar to the Kindle, Amazon's e-book which is already in it's version 2.0. These e-books are quite expensive, The Nook is starting out at two hundred and fifty nine dollars. Supposedly the amount of money you save by purchasing the much cheaper e-book versions of novels will save you a lot of money. For example Dan Brown's latest best seller 'The Lost Symbol' has a list price of $29.95 for the hardcover edition. The e-book however is sold for &9.99.

Being a lover of books I can't imagine ever really owning one of these electronic readers. On the flip side I'm also a sucker for a sleek tech savy gadget. I've been debating whether or not I should save up and purchase one of these handheld wonders that can hold up to 1,500 books before any external memory.

That would be fifteen hundred books at my fingertips at all times... For those who don't know me: I am the geek that runs around with at least two books in her over sized bag at all times, and I complete the book wormy-ness with my mini book light and extra batteries, just in case. I usually read until my eyes can't take it anymore or I simply fall asleep. Usually if i get sucked into a story I will read until I finish a novel from cover to cover. Sometimes it's a problem because I tend to lose a lot of sleep, but I can't help it. I love thousands of little words come together and create beautiful stories.

And don't even let me get started with the joy I get from walking into a book store. Especially the independently owned used book stores. You can't replace the feeling of picking up the perfect used book in your hands. I always feel like the book ended up in that obscure place because it wanted me to find it. It's story was passed not just from the author and out of a box onto a shelf but it went through the hands of different people who read the same story and this small little object filled with thousands of words ended up on a dusty shelf for me to find.

So with that said how could I possibly even consider buying an e-book?

Due to my dilemma I went to the library to look at a few titles that I've been considering adding to my collection. After the first book I picked up I knew that buying an e-book would be a big mistake. How could I cut the joy that I get from the touch and smell and feel of a new book out of my life? That would just be cruel.

A few other people were able to say exactly what I was feeling...

an e-book is controlled lighting and techno rules that procribes how books are read. i don’t want to order up hundreds of downloaded books that in the moment tantalize and later i will wonder, why i wanted them. i don’t want to make decisions from a menu. i don’t want to scroll. i don’t want to click or type or worry over the battery running dry. i want a book in my hands that demands nothing. it’s simplicity in its origin. an inamimate collection of pages between two covers. its sillness is beauty. the dynamism is what happens in my head. any way that i choose to read from beginning to end or ruminate on a pasage, i want to be unafaid that should i doze off, the book won’t kill itself if it falls. i want thick, thin, heavy, light, oversized or undersized real books. that’s how i want to read.
— gene kraig


Thanks Gene Kraig... I couldn't of explained it any better.

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