I don’t choose between my house phone and my mobile. I don’t choose between my laptop and my notebook. And I don’t intend to choose between my e-reader and my bookshelf.
Sara Sheridan
Inspired by the first movie that ventured from silence to sound, writers in the 1930s began to consider a world of electronic books. An unorthodox idea, but one that would come to become used increasingly commonly in modern times.
The first e-book, surprisingly enough, was the U.S. Declaration of Independence. Michael S. Hart, through Project Gutenberg, digitized the renowned document in 1971. This would eventually proliferate into the e-readers we know and make use of today through its memorable evolution.
In 1985, we were given the first fifty books that were digitized on floppy disk– including Jurassic Park. In 1998, however, actions made toward the modern ebook skyrocketed. Rocket Ebook and Softbook were launched. Ebooks were provided in libraries. We were beginning to see the integration of these seemingly unusual– and some might say, unfavorable– books into our sphere of influence.
In 2007, Amazon launched the Kindle e-reader, which would become the most popular one to date. Since the introduction of the Kindle, over 25% of Americans have begun to use ereaders. On top of that, 2020 was a monumental year for e-readers– the sales of ebooks outnumbered those of physical books.
The advantages of e-readers have been discussed by several people over the years due to the controversial nature of it. Because it is light and portable, traveling with as many books as one might wish to have becomes infinitely easier with an e-reader, rather than having to worry about the space being taken up by heavy books, or particularly large ones. Furthermore, storage stops being an issue once it is all stored in a small tablet-like device. You do not have to leave your house in order to download a book, or wait for it to arrive in the case of ordering it online. For many, as evidenced by the growing number of people using these e-readers, the concept of having an entire library of your choosing at your fingertips, ready to take anywhere, is enticing.
Moreover, the act of reading on an e-reader is different from a physical book. Many have said that they tend to skim when they are on an e-reader, or that they feel less of a “sense of accomplishment” when reading electronically. Some have argued that this is because we do not see just how much we are reading when we are on an e-reader– the length would appear the same to us if we were reading War And Peace or a short, lighthearted novella. Perhaps it is because we do not track progress as much, or that it is the same size and weight for every single book due to the fact that you are reading everything on one little device.
The connotation that we receive when reading digitally, due to the large chunks of text one is used to reading on their laptop while doing research, is that it is fast-paced, and that they should skim for keywords. However, we tend to slow down when reading physical books, though it varies from person to person.
Analyzing how we tend to read differently in the several mediums despite it being the same content, it leaves us wondering how writers will adapt to the changes.
Will writing styles change to better how much we comprehend their books? Will books become longer because reading a longer book on a small screen is less daunting?
says, S. (2014). The History of eBooks from 1930’s “Readies” to Today’s GPO Services. Retrieved from Government Book Talk: https://govbooktalk.gpo.gov/2014/03/10/the-history-of-ebooks-from-1930s-readies-to-todays-gpo-ebook-services/#:~:text=Starting%20back%20in%201971%2C%20Michael,between%20two%20mainframe%20computers!)
Schofield, J. (2007, November 18). Amazon will launch Kindle ebook reader on Monday. Retrieved from The Guardian: https://www.theguardian.com/technology/blog/2007/nov/18/amazonwilllaunchkindleeboo
Sorrel, C. (2020). Amazon: E-Books Outsell Hardcovers. Retrieved from Wired: https://www.wired.com/2010/07/amazon-e-books-outsell-hardcovers/#:~:text=Kindle%20e%2Dbooks%20are%20outselling,every%20100%20dead%2Dtree%20books.
Team Leverage Edu. (2023, May 24). eBooks vs Printed Books: Which are better? Retrieved from Leverage Edu: https://leverageedu.com/blog/ebooks-vs-printed-books/