Wow, can you imagine living one hundred years ago? When if you wanted to read, you had to do so by candlelight? And your cow would be peeking over your shoulder trying to get in on the action, too, and your mother would say, “Put that book away and get back to sewing your new shirt!” Or something like that. Now that we have e-books, we don’t have to keep living in the past and bothering with printed books. Why are e-books so much better? If it isn’t obvious, here are the four very important reasons to justify:
They’re Not Embarrassing
What are your guilty reading pleasures? When you’re out in public, you might not want to start reading them, or else the stranger on the subway might think you’re a bored and lonely housewife, a total geek, or even a potential serial killer. If you’ve ever switched book jackets just to be able to bring your current read with you poolside, you can welcome e-books with open arms. You never have to advertise your reading material to anyone else – you can just pull out your e-reader and show them how tech-savvy you are.
They’re Durable
If you take very good care of your printed books, maybe you can get through their first read without making them look dog-eared with wrinkly covers. And if you keep loaning your books out to friends, don’t even think you’ll get them back with all the pages still attached to the spine. Printed books may be great, but they can fall apart pretty easily. With e-books, all you have to do is make sure you don’t drop your Kindle in the tub. Even if you do, you can just pull up your account on your next device, and there’s every book you own – safe and in mint condition, just like the day you bought them.
They Wear Many Hats
Well, e-books themselves don’t wear many hats, but your e-reader does. Every time a new version of the Kindle or Nook comes out, there are more things you can do with them besides just read (who only want to do that, anyway?). You can use apps, surf the Internet, edit documents – they’re practically mini tablets at a much cheaper price. One day you can probably video chat with your mom while reading Fifty Shades of Grey – okay, maybe that’d be a little creepy. Nevermind. I’m sure you can find your own appropriate uses for the many functions of your e-reader without my help.
They Enhance Your Experience
How many times have you been reading a book and thought, “I have to remember to look that up later,” or, “What the hell does that word mean?” If you’re a voracious reader, probably quite a few. When you’re reading an e-book and those same thoughts come up, all you have to do is tap your screen and suddenly that mystery word is defined, or you’re automatically linked to the all-knowing Wikipedia page of that other interesting topic. E-books actually take learning to the max, and that’s always a good thing.
