Gone are the days of cave paintings, papyrus scrolls and wax tablets. Reading has never been more accessible than right now. From Kindles with thousands of books at your fingertips, to audiobooks on your phone, where you don’t even have to read. The options are varied, and I’m here to give my opinions on each.
No matter where you read, one thing we all can agree on is physical books are the best medium for reading. Not the most practical, Eco-friendly or even financially sound. But reading a physical book has been around for so long that I’m tempted to think it is a part of what makes us human. Holding a book in your hand, seeing the girth of the book, experiencing each page turn and organizing your collection on a shelf, are things that undoubtedly no medium could copy and a core reason why physical books still remain relevant in our age of pdf’s and epubs.
I view ebooks as a perfect companion to physical books. It’s not here to replace physical books, but act as a good practical alternative in a lot of circumstances. Being easily portable, more accessible and cheaper are some of the reasons why ebooks are dominating right now. And if you add an eReader such as Kindle to the mix, it ensures your eyes aren’t destroyed in the process. Overall ebooks are a main reason I got into reading, as it was cheaper and convenient. It also made me buy a Kindle which I cherish, so I owe a lot to ebooks and what it has done for reading in general.
I was late to get on the audiobooks hype train as I was pretty comfortable with my kindle. But after using it, I get why it is popular, but also see a major drawback to it. First the good, it is highly enjoyable, hearing voice actors act out the story with dramatic voice lines brings a whole new life into the characters, or even better, hearing the authors like Stephen Fry act out his writing is truly something special. Furthermore, it is highly convenient, accessible and great in noisy environment, like while traveling. Unfortunately though, I have a few grips. Even though audiobooks are great for fiction, non-fiction isn’t as effective. I feel like hearing and not reading, makes me understand less. Also, If I need to go back a few lines to understand a concept, I can’t do it without taking out my phone, which I find in-convenient. I also noticed, I tend to forget the contents of audiobooks way more often than reading.
All 3 of these have their strengths and weakness and are meant to be used in conjunction, not solely. For me, physical books are reserved for special books which I want to see in my shelf forever. Kindle is my daily driver, which I take to college and read mainly on. Audiobooks are for fiction books, on bus rides and other noisy environment where I can’t concentrate on reading. Each has its strengths and weakness, and it’s up to you, to choose which is right for which book.
