«Ebooks and classical books: pros and cons»

Своеволина Анастасия

Ученица 8 А класса

МОУ «Волчихинская средняя школа№1»

село Волчиха Алтайского края

«Ebooks and classical books: pros and cons»

         When I was a little girl my Mum often read books to me. I remember those old books with bright pictures. I could take them with my small fingers. I turned over the pages, touched the pictures.  I remember wonderful tactile feel of a book. It was an amazing world of books for me. When a child acquires this awesome habit of reading classical books, he slowly also starts knowing the various things happening around him and gets to know what is good and what is bad. I believed that the fairy-tale characters lived in the books. Each book had heart and soul. My relatives gave me book as a present. I keep all books of my childhood.  This book was my Granny’s present. It is very important to me.  Another book was brought by my dad from his travelling. We have a family library where each book has its own history. For me, the book is not only a source of knowledge, but also a family value.

            My friends call me book worm, but I am not feeling sad because of it, I am happy. If I had to talk about books I would not end but people should not get bored. I believe classical books are our everlasting friend and till our death they give us endless knowledge, pleasure and are a good source of refreshment.

            Books are the best friends of not only me but all the other children who study them. They are the identity of students, a student is known by the books he reads. The classical books give peace to our mind, increase attention and concentration, increases vocabulary, presence of mind, creativity and above all, it gives us knowledge which is considered to be the world's greatest treasure. Some books help us to know and they are the best, as they are a true mirror for us giving us courage to face ups and downs of life.

             What about electronic books (variously, e-book, ebook, digital book)?

I agree that the popularity of electronic books is at its peak level today. E-books are taking place of classical ones. Even school textbooks could soon be replaced by electronic devices. First I decided to find the meaning of this term.

               The Oxford Dictionary of English defines the e-book as "an electronic version of a printed book," but e-books can and do exist without any printed equivalent. E-books are usually read on dedicated e-book readers. Personal computers and some mobile phones can also be used to read e-books.  All these computer electronic devices couldn’t replace classical old books from our childhood.

              It's interesting how the technology can expand our reading experience and I'm curious about it. However, I love the feeling of a real book, the chance to borrow them, adding notes, underline some ideas, etc. I believe that there aren’t sides to choose. We have to be clever and accept the different flavors of reading, always taking care of the chance than everyone in the different socio-cultural positions can access to that experience and information. Personally, I prefer a real book and I don't feel any menace in e-books.  I like to control my reading without worrying about charging or batteries. I like to turn my own pages which become part of the feeling of being in the story. I always finger the next page, preparing to turn it long before necessary, and that makes me feel there is 'much more to come'.  I like to put the book down and see I am halfway through by how many pages thickness is left. I like to curl up in bed with my book not worrying it will fall on the floor and break or get crushed under me and no longer 'work'....I can use it to smack a fly or bug...I can throw it at the birdcage when he is screaming too much (kidding LOL)...Nothing will convince me that these new 'machines' are better than a book made out of paper and ink.

             I have a tendency to judge people, especially those I'm interested in dating, by the books on their shelves. My only issue with e-books is browsing to choose a book. In a library or bookstore I open a book at random and read a bit to see how well written or interesting it seems. If I am unsure, I open somewhere else and read a bit. If it's self-help, or cookbook, I'll check a tip or recipe. Can't do this when browsing e-books.
            I usually smell my books after buying them, I notice the texture and weight of the paper, and I admire well-designed covers. For me, these activities, alongside the actual registration of words, all fall under "the reading experience."

             I know that electronic books are slim, light and easy to carry on for trips or to put in a schoolbag. It’s more convenient to use ebooks at school for pupils and students. I consider they are easy to move instead of boxes and boxes of books. One more thing it’s a library at your fingertips! If space is at a premium, such as in a backpack or at home, it can be an advantage that an e-book collection takes up little room and weight.

But the digital book is expensive device to buy. Not all of my desired books are available digitally. While printed books remain readable for many years, e-books may need to be copied or converted to a new carrier or file type over time. Because of proprietary formats or lack of file support, formatted e-books may be unusable on certain readers.

And computer is computer, it can be broken.

             The evolution of publishing from print to digital has caused a schism in the reading world. There are now two constituencies: readers (and writers) on the one hand, and the publishing world on the other. And they don't want to hear each other.

Readers want books that are plentiful and cheap, publishers want to preserve their profit, and authors want a larger share of revenue. The conflict has created a strident internecine battle inside the publishing industry. At issue are the price and timing of e-books, and who owns the rights to backlist titles.

          We can all take joy in the fact that at this time we have the freedom of choice. Paper or email or audiobook. Enjoy what you like. Things have a tendency to come around again if enough people want them enough to pay for them (see the revival of music available on a vinyl disk). And who wouldn't say that a live performance is better than vinyl?

Источники информации:

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/E-book_reader

http://www.nybooks.com/blogs/nyrblog/2012/feb/15/ebooks-cant-burn/