First of all, I want to start off by saying, I invented the Kindle. Okay, not literally of course, the e-reader is something that companies have been working on and revamping for years. But I can remember in about 2001 or 2002, having a class project where we were required to come up with an invention that could help people, we had to write a report and do a whole poster-board which showed what the invention would look like and the main features of it. Although I can’t remember what I named the device, I did create an e-reader; it was compact and you could put your textbooks and regular books on it. It looked like a mix between an e-reader and a tablet and had additional features to it like note programs so you could just takes your notes as you were reading. The benefits were it would save on paper and it would save the backs of millions of students. I really should have marketed the shit out of that thing. Anyway, it’s funny now, that about fifteen years later, I really don’t care for e-readers or e-books.
At the time it sounded like the perfect idea, but during the rise of e-books in the late 2000’s-early 2010’s, I realized it really wasn’t my thing. Of course I still do read books in e-book format on my Kindle app on my phone, but I only do it if it’s the only option for the book (or if I get a free month’s subscription to kindle unlimited, like I have now). I work in the banking industry and I spend about 95% of my time staring at a computer screen. My eyes tire easily and when I get home, I don’t feel like staring at a computer screen even more. Not to mention, I get too easily distracted; like I said my Kindle app is on my phone, so I become distracted anytime somebody texts me or if someone decides to LOL at a photo I posted a month ago on Facebook because thanks to the stupid way Facebook’s timeline works they’re just seeing the photo for the first time now. But there are also some benefits. I have my phone on me at all times, so if I’m somewhere trying to kill time, I can just open up the app and start reading. It’s compact. I don’t know about everybody else who carries a purse or bag with them daily, but mine is huge and filled to the top, with what I’m not quite sure, but I have everything that I would need if I somehow ended up on a deserted island, or if the zombie apocalypse started, I swear. So fitting a book in there, especially a large hardback book, is a little impossible.
That being said, I still love physical books more. First of all, physical books have this smell to them. It’s hard to explain, just go sniff a book. I swear if they sold a perfume or cologne with that scent, like eau de book or something, I would probably buy it and just spray my room with it (really somebody should market that to febreze for a air freshener). Secondly, books have really become pieces of art lately. There are so many covers that are so beautifully designed and I just love to display them on my bookshelf, as a matter of fact, I have so many facing forward so you can see their covers, that I hardly have any room to fit all of my books. Thirdly, it’s so much easier to get immersed into the story of a physical book, for me, then it is to read an e-book. I especially love old, worn books; you can just see and feel the love on their yellowed pages and the little tears in the covers; don’t get me wrong, I love me a brand new hardcover book, but I also really love an old paperback. I also just love the feel of a book in my hand. And lastly, going to a bookstore to buy books is one of my favorite trips to make. I could spend hours in a bookstore, looking at the covers, reading the synopsis of anything that jumps out at me, exploring different genres that I might not typically look at; in fact, I have spent hours in a bookstore before.
I love to read, so either way, I’m just happy to have books and to get drawn into all of the different worlds that these authors create. But despite what my sixth grade self thought back in the day, I would rather have my books and heavy bag any day over my e-reader app.
MindyGrimmBlogs 