My goal by the end of this post is to make everyone who sees it want to buy an E-Reader. Hopefully, you can afford to buy one. If not, I’m sorry to have added to the longing for material things already facilitated by a consumerist society.
Before we get started, a note: Originally I had titled this post using “Kindle” instead of “E-Reader” in reference to the Amazon Kindle, which I personally own. However, I didn’t want to alienate those who may choose not to purchase an Amazon product because of slimy Jeff Bezos. I might have just alienated fans of Jeff Bezos with that statement, but I can only do so much, you know? Regardless, while Kindles might be the most prevalent brand, there are also others such as Kobo or Nook. I personally prefer Kindle, think of me what you will.
I love e-readers. Or, should I say, I love e-readers now. Unfortunately, I didn’t always. My very first e-reader was a Kindle purchased for me by my well-meaning grandparents. They knew how frequently I read and thought an e-reader would be the perfect gift for someone with such a voracious appetite for books. It was the Amazon Kindle 4th generation model with two gigabytes of storage. I was not a fan. I think I might have been eleven or twelve at the time and I already had the “I just prefer the feel of a real book” mantra down. My kindle sat alone and unloved for weeks.
If you are a person who loves the feel of a real book, I may not be able to change your mind. I understand liking the smell of paper, seeing the inevitable wear on a book you’ve reread many times, and feeling the pages slide from one side of the book to the other as you complete your reading. It’s a physical journey almost as much as it is a mental one. I’m sad to say an e-reader does not replicate this feel, there is only a small progress bar at the bottom to reflect your reading.
However, an e-reader can do a lot of things your normal book can’t. Allow me to enlighten you.
When I finally came around to the idea of my kindle, I was floored by the things it could do. For one, it’s significantly lighter than a novel, and takes up much less space in a purse or a backpack. This was ideal for me as I was still in school at the time, and I carried it with me often. Another obvious appeal is that e-readers can hold multiple books on a single device. The newer versions have even more storage than my original kindle and can hold hundreds of books. They’re downloaded onto the device, so there’s no need to be near Wifi once you’ve purchased and downloaded the book.
Now, I said you could store hundreds of books on your kindle, but let’s break down the math, shall we? Amazon’s newest Kindle Paperwhite has 8GB of space on it. Let’s be conservative and say 6GB of that is usable space for books, since there are other apps already running on the e-reader. An average, 300 page eBook is around 600-800KB. We’ll go ahead and take the average for 700KB/eBook. Keep in mind this is Amazon’s estimate, not mine, but we’ll have to take their word for it. There are 1000KB in a Megabyte (MB) and 1000MB in a Gigabyte (GB). So 6GB=6,000MB=6,000,000KB. Still following? If we divide 6,000,000KB by the 700KB of space your average book takes up, that’s approximately 8,500 books.
That’s a lot of books. I’m telling you this for two reasons. First, to illustrate just how many books an e-reader can hold. Second, to show that you don’t need to buy the newest version of e-reader with the most storage. Buying an older version, or even a used version, with 2-4GB will suit you just fine if you’d rather save your money. I bought my current kindle used off eBay. Reusing is cool, guys.
Of course, money is still a pretty big issue when it comes to new books. At first, eBooks were cheaper than your average paperback book, and significantly cheaper than a hardcover copy. Unfortunately, these days eBooks run about the same price as a paperback book. Sometimes they’re even more expensive than the mass-market paperback versions of novels. This stinks, is absolutely ridiculous since you’re not buying a physical copy, and is one of the reasons I still use the library so much. I read way too much to spend money every time I buy a book, my budget would be thousands of dollars a year. However, if you’re used to buying books brand new off the shelf, there’s virtually (ha, get it?) no difference buying the eBook version.
Most e-readers will last weeks on a single charge, which is great for those of us who want to read for hours on end without charging your device. Usually I have to charge my phone once a day, but reading on my phone will drain the battery pretty quickly. Staring at the light on the screen can be hard on the eyes as well, which is why I prefer the e-readers which aren’t backlit. Some of the newer versions even come with a built-in, adjustable light that can be turned on and off whenever you’d like. Book lights have been a thing for a while, but it is a separate component to remember if you want to read in the dark. I almost never remember, so I highly value the built-in e-reader lights.
In my post about why people should thrift their books, I mention the fact that we’re creating brand new copies of books that were published decades ago. There is very little reason to buy a new version of an older book when there have been hundreds of thousands of copies printed that are now floating around thrift stores or being thrown out in excess. Not to mention, books that have lapsed into fair domain are FREE. There is no reason to purchase a FREE book (unless you really want it, and then no one can stop you). E-readers help with this issue. You can download many classics and older novels for free with a kindle, rather than buying a brand new copy at the store. There are also frequent sales (I buy popular novels for $0.99 all the time), and if you have amazon prime you can access prime novels for free as well.
There is a lot of waste in the world. A lot. That’s the main reason I love my kindle. This one, small, electronic device holds hundreds of my books. I can carry it with me everywhere, and it saves me from having to store hundreds of physical copies in my room. I do not envy people who have to move entire home libraries, those boxes are HEAVY.
I do keep physical copies of my favorite books. I’m all about compromise, baby. I currently have 47 physical books on my bookshelf which probably holds about sixty books, depending on their size. If my bookshelf ever gets full, I don’t get a new bookshelf. I look at the books I’ve collected (mostly from thrift stores) and see which ones I will actually pick up and read again, and which ones I can let go. If I’m on the fence about parting with a book, I will buy the kindle version so that I can still reread it if I’d like.
These are my thoughts about e-readers. I hope I’ve at least made some of you consider looking into one. I think they’re a great invention, but that’s just my 1200 words about it.
The Lit Wiz