Re-Kindle Passion for Literature with eBooks

[dropcap]I[/dropcap] have always been a lover of reading. And by that I mean a lover of good old fashioned books. However, I have also discovered that a good book doesn’t need a fancy cover and a certain smell. Rather, a good book just needs to be a good book.

There are many reasons why we should support the Kindle, along with other E-readers.

Can we really ignore the damage that we are causing to our world, just so that we can enjoy that ‘feeling’ of a good book? I don’t think so. How many trees are used to produce a year’s worth of books? It’s hard to say, however one source suggests that the USA alone consumes thirty million trees every year to make books. National Geographic has estimated that the carbon produced when creating one physical book is equal to the carbon produced by fourteen e-books. Thus, the benefits of buying eBooks are innumerable. Furthermore, many people are now using their tablets to read news articles, reducing the amount of trees being chopped down daily to produce newspapers.

I admit that I had reservations when my parents bought me my first tablet a few months ago. I thought that reading a book on a mechanical device would ruin the whole experience of getting lost in your favourite novel. Oh, how wrong I was. My tablet turned out to be a pleasure to use: as I glided through the pages of Wuthering Heights, I realised what a smooth user experience it in fact provided. Think about those windy days in the park when you are trying to read, but your book is trying to fly away! With the ability to change the text size and screen brightness on most tablets, the eBook is not to be passed over lightly.

Now, don’t get me wrong: my bookshelf is still the source of my pride and joy. However, the efficiency and convenience of a Kindle cannot be denied. When packing for a holiday, the hardest decision that I have to make is which books I will take with me, and which ones I must leave at home. But with a tablet, that’s no longer an issue!

If you are sitting at home and feel the sudden urge to read a new book, it’s unlikely that you are going to rush off to the nearest Waterstones. But with a tablet, you have a vast collection of books – including a reservoir of free classics – at your fingertips. It’s not surprising that studies have shown that more people are reading thanks to the eBook.

I acknowledge that change is always hard to accept, however progress shouldn’t be shunned. We should all support the switch to using eBooks to help fight deforestation. But that doesn’t mean that you can’t treat yourself to the odd hardback every once in a while…