What is a Book? Post #2

A book is a place to escape from reality, no matter the form. Personally, I love to read actual books, feeling the pages in my fingers as I reach the next chapter and physically holding an author’s work in my hands means something to me. As much as I enjoy reading the tangible book, I still find myself diving in to plenty of e-books because of their convenience. Reading on a Kindle or iPad versus an actual hard copy of a book is very different, but it doesn’t make the content of the book any less.

All readers have a preference on how we read our books. There are some very strong opinions about the “death of the book” because of the very recent switch to electronic reading. I think that the spike in e-book sales is encouraging because that means people are actually reading. E-books have made the idea of reading not seem like such a chore to the non-readers out there. The accessibility of the electronic reading has so much appeal to people who don’t like the idea of going to a book store and buying physical copies of the book. Also buying e-books is less expensive than buying an actual copy, so you are getting more for your money.

I think that the idea and image of a book is evolving. The days of carrying the extremely battered copy of your favorite book are coming to an end. Now you can carry your entire library in your pocket. Every book you can think of could be yours with a tap of a button. The popularity of e-books and e-readers is a great thing for authors and readers. It makes books easier to obtain and authors are getting more readers to buy their books. Even though the physical book is becoming rarer, I still would rather have the comfort of cuddling up on a rainy day and reading my favorite book..