Here is my library’s environmental science shelf. It borders the subjects of mathematics and nursing.
I know I might get a bit of heat for this, but I can’t stand e-books.
Whatever happened to the good-old-fashioned heft and weight of a book in your hands? The crisp sound of the turning of the pages as you embark on a brand new chapter? The way an old book smells after no one has opened it in so long the dust is thicker than the pages?
To me, nothing can replace the book. You know, that physical manuscript that has school-children and adults alike running for the hills? I read over 100 of them last year alone, and not a single one of them was in digital format.
Now, don’t get me wrong. It’s not that I hate trees and want them all turned into folios and drenched with the ink of a thousand tragedies.
Instead, I go to my local library (which is sadly underfunded.)
There, I can read and read and read to my heart’s content, and take out as many as 50 books. I have come close to that limit on more than one occasion.
The library, though, is a dying beast. It is being replaced by creatures and conglomerations like Amazon and the dreaded Kindle.
It’s a terrible thing that shared books and resources and educational materials contained in libraries are going the way of the dinosaur.
So maybe next time you’re craving a cozy mystery or a meet-cute romance, don’t run to buy a hard-cover, or even an e-book. Just stop by your local library and ask to see the books.
Post Script:
The title of this post is a reference to my space opera. No such book on aardvarks yet exists, to the best of my knowledge.
A very interesting way to convey your point! Sadly, we live in the information age where everything, including human interactions, is digitized. That is not to say that it doesn’t have any benefits. In fact, I strongly support technology and I think embracing it can bring a lot more meaning to life. E-books can spread knowledge much faster and farther than any physical book. There are also limitations to physical books that e-books can completely ignore. For instance, it wouldn’t be sensible (and even possible for some people) to travel to Italy to read the original Codex Leicester when it takes a few seconds to Google it. And as you mentioned, an added bonus is that it is less harmful to our environment. So why not embrace the technology?
I am of the school of thought that takes a more moderate view of technology. As an Artifical Intelligence Studies Major, and someone who wants to have a career in AI, I am well aware of the benefits of technology, though perhaps I am also a bit more aware of the dangers then the average individual. My first job was as an Instructor of Computer Literacy, and I have witnessed firsthand how a lack of computer literacy can isolate and exclude seniors. Those who did not grow up with the technology often have trouble not only using the technology, but also accepting that so many human interactions are digitized.
How would you propose to bring knowledge to those areas and regions in the world that do not have access to electricity, let alone the internet, if not through books? I think that there will always be a place for books, especially so long as up to 55% of the world’s population has no internet access. (https://data.worldbank.org/indicator/IT.NET.USER.ZS?end=2016&start=1960&view=chart) In the poorest and least connected of nations, Internet usage percentage can be in the single digits (Chad, the Central African Republic, the Democratic Republic of the Congo, etc)
I believe that libraries minimize the environmental costs of books in that they rely on resource sharing, rather than the creation of new books for each person.
I won’t deny that e-books have their advantages, but the same is true of physical books.