Welcome to another Top Ten Tuesday post, a weekly feature hosted by The Broke and the Bookish.
This week’s topic is 10 Reasons Why You Love X, be it a book, author, hobby, etc. My first instinct was to not be predictable and write something no one knows I love. I outlined that post, but then changed my mind. My second thought was to be totally predictable and… you know.. write a 10 reasons why I’m a Brandon Sanderson fan post. And I did try, only it turn out to be an essay and I need time to edit and proofread that post(s? plural??)
So I decided to dig into my old drafts and found this post.
I love prints, and frankly there’s nothing in the world that smells better than new book (except maybe freshly brewed coffee). I also love the feeling of holding a physical copy of a book. Not to mention, they look much better on real shelves than on virtual shelves.
However, I do have reasons why I have been purchasing mostly e-books since google play store made them available in my country.
Here are 10 reasons why.
1. You can read it anywhere, everywhere.
Portability is the number one reason where e-book has benefit over print. Not only you can read it anywhere, you can usually also read it in multiple gadgets or computers depend on where you are without the need of carrying the actual book.
2. It took less storage space.
E-books are, of course, stored in your device, or if you buy it through online store, in the cloud, on your virtual account. “I need more bookshelves!” have been one of the biggest issues for any book lovers (the other would be: “I need more books!”), so it’s nice that e-books solve this storage problem.
3. Easier to find, harder to lose.
I have a problem remembering where I put my old books. I misplaced them all the time. Now, with e-books, I have all of them stored in my account and google/amazon/whatever is much better at keeping things organized than me.
4. Flood-resistant (your gadget, however, is not) and mites-resistant
As someone who live in tropical country, there are only two seasons in my country, dry season and rainy season (read: flood season). As such, my house, and in consequence, my books have been flood victims multiple times. It’s heartbreaking having to throw away your books because it’s been soaked through by flood (I tried to save them, trust me). Virtual books, of course, are flood-resistant because they reside in the cloud. There’s also this little problem of mites getting into your old books which e-books are resistant against.
5. It’s (usually) cheaper
I think this one depends on the relative price you’re willing to pay to get a physical copy vs digital copy. Some people, including my sister, feels that it’s worth getting a physical copy for a couple of dollars more than e-books because you could actually hold the thing. Many people still feel that something, anything—not just books, is worth more in its physical form. Digital form was still often seen as something less valuable.
But I digress. E-book is usually cheaper than the physical copy, and some times the difference is obscene. For people with limited budget, it is nice to have the option of getting to read the same book with less expense. I’ve compiled some money-saving tips for your ebooks shopping spree in another post so I’m not going into details here.
6. You can adjust the fonts, the contrast
The ability to adjust the display is highly underrated. As a person with astigmatism, my eyes often get strained from reading. Adjustment came in handy here. Most e-books programs give you the option to adjust the font face, size, and background color. Some even let you change the margin and the spacing.
7. Highlight and take notes (annotate)
If you like to annotate your book, most e-books program let you highlight your books and some even let you write notes in your books. I never marked my physical copy (except textbook) because of its irreversibility (obviously, there’s nothing wrong with it if you prefer to do so). Now though, I could highlight my favorite passages and quotes and the e-books program will compile them so I could get back to them easily.
8. Bookmarks! Multiple bookmarks! Bookmarks everywhere!
Now, this is my favorite feature about e-books program. Question: how many bookmarks can you put in your paperback before it dents?
With e-books, you could put bookmark as much as you want (I have no idea if there’s a limit, I never found one and I’m a crazy bookmarker). Very handy.
9. It’s searchable (find passage, character, etc)
Ever read a book halfway through and think, “wait, I’ve read about this character before,” and try to flip back to find it in earlier chapters without success? I did. So many times. Fortunately, most e-books program these days have a search feature that let you search anything and backtrack conspicuous character name or irrelevant fact just because it amuses you.
10. Quicker way to get new releases
Especially for people who don’t live in big city and those who live far from major bookstores, e-book is an efficient way to get new releases. Of course, there are amazon and bookdepository (which I LOVE for its free worldwide shipping) but it usually takes bookdepository over 3 weeks to deliver my books and some times I just don’t want to wait.
There you have it, the top 10 reasons why I mostly buy e-books these days.
Personally, I love prints too, but I think e-books have their benefits. What do you think?
Print lovers and e-books fans, take your stand and voice your opinion down below!
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