In these modern times, is there a fear of being left behind? Can an electronic book, by definition, even exist? Consumers are told that they live in a world obsessed with upgrading the staples of twenty-first century existence. Find your inner geek or be found wanting. Such is the thought process behind
E-book readers like the Kindle, Nook, and various other types of electronic text processors. Salient breaks it down:
E-readers:
• The shiny factor: E-readers are pretty, glossy things that are sure to please the more status-conscious among us. Downsides include looking pompous and lip-pursing.
• The convenience factor: Much like how the iPod destroyed the cultural credit of having a CD collection, lightweight E-readers let you store, and whip out 1000 of your favourite reads literally anywhere. Other bonuses include the ability to read in the dark. For all the times you wished you had War and Peace on the walk home from town!
• The privacy factor: Tell people you’re reading Atlas Shrugged while scrolling through the second Twilight book.
• The limitation factor: For the few readers with Wi-Fi, surfing the net is like using a Swiss Army-keychain knife to chop up vegetables. There’s also the $200-400 price range, restricted battery life, and breakability level to take into account.
Bound Books:
• The cheap factor: A library card is free, and you can borrow for yourself or lend to your friends within a maximum 14-day period.
• The nostalgia factor: bedtime stories, treasured classics, and trawling through bookshops on idle afternoons. Some enjoy the ‘old-book’ smell, and page textures are a plus for fetishists.
• The mystique factor: Deep moments are best had with a book in a coffee shop/Laundromat/pier/the rain. Being seen reading a (battered) copy of One Hundred Years of Solitude gives off a mysterious charisma that’s both inviting and unpretentious.
• The durability factor: Stain it, throw it, or back a car over it, the humble paperback will often outlive the average human.