Over the weekend, a group of friends and I went on an adventure to a local Barnes & Noble for a day of studying and shopping. While there, I realized two things; 1) my friend Drew is a genius for coming up with the idea to study at a bookstore; 2) in an age where I can have a world of digital media at my fingertips, I still insist on buying books physically. It’s not as if I’m a physical purist– I often buy video games digitally and primarily watch movies through streaming services– there’s just something about physical books made of real paper that makes me refuse to read any other way. What is that something? That’s what I hope to find out.
The first thing I noticed on this journey of self-discovery is that physical books are inherently different from physical movies, video games, music or almost any other form of media. When I watch a movie on DVD, I put the disc into the player but after that, everything I’m seeing is on my TV screen– and video games and music are similar cases. After you put the disc, cartridge or CD into the player, the digital media is almost indistinguishable from its physical counterpart (unless you’re a music purist who insists vinyl is the only true form of music, but that’s none of my business to talk about). Books, however, are completely different. They require paper and ink, qualities that simply cannot be replicated by ebooks. Since nothing about a book is digital, the difference between book and ebook is something I can’t ignore. Even if someone prefers electronic books to paper ones, I can’t imagine that they would see the two as being the same.
The main reasons why I prefer print books over digital ones come down to personal preference and sappy sentimentality. Physical books make me feel emotions deep down that ebooks simply don’t. Reading a book on a Kindle or an iPad doesn’t give the reader the tactile feeling that is inseparable from reading for me. They don’t let you put your bookmark in the page you’re working toward, they don’t have the inexplicably satisfying feeling of turning from one page to the next, they don’t come with weird smudges that add so much personality to your very own copy of that book.
After rereading an ebook countless times over the years, it stays the way it was on day one. Some would call that a convenience, but I call it a lack of character. Digital books will never show the scars that come from years of being lovingly read. My copy of “The Lord of the Rings” isn’t in peak physical condition, but there’s stories behind the wrinkles, the creases, the fact that page 367 is so crumpled. An electronic copy of “Harry Potter and the Sorcerer’s Stone” might remain pristine throughout the years, but it doesn’t come with the opportunity of hearing why my family’s copy is literally ripped in half and held together with a strip of duct tape.
Digital books are a great convenience of the modern day, and there are reasons why countless people across the world prefer to read their stories electronically. For me, though, there is without question no replacement for the physical and emotional feeling of a good book made of ink and paper.
