As I was reading chapter six of The Shallows, Carr points out how
technology has even reached books in the creation of digital readers.
Digital readers do not sell as much as physical books but
they are selling at an increasingly faster pace. It is stated in Carr’s book
that these digital readers will significantly change the way we read, write,
and sell books. Digital readers make searching for a book as easy as surfing
the internet instead of having to drive to a bookstore with the chance that the
book you are looking for will not be in stock until weeks later.
The kindle also comes with its cons compared to physical
books. With a kindle, you have to regularly charge and avoid spilling liquids
or food onto it. In addition, you may be more reluctant to let a friend borrow
your kindle to read a book you recommended. The kindle, like the Internet, will
also possess distractions with the apps it contains. These aspects are usually
not the case with physical books.
Furthermore, according to Carr, with the development of the
digital reader comes a change in writing style. In Japan
So, is the digital reader a positive technological
innovation that promotes reading and literature or does it undermine the
written word like other technology? Is it really more convenient than a
physical book?
The kindle and other eBooks are proven to be more convenient than traditional books. Even though an eBook requires more care because of its value, it has become increasingly necessary in the past few years. In chapter six, Carr states that eBooks are making up to the value of the traditional book, like highlighting and writing in the margins. He also says that producing books leads to the destruction of trees and higher finances.
ReplyDeleteI was actually perplexed when Carr's book repeatedly talked about the negative effects of electronic readers versus the typically printed books. I personally find it a lot easier to concentrate when I am virtually reading as opposed to actual grasping a book and flipping through the pages. I find that my ability to alter the text size on virtual books is very convenient and I actually understand things a lot better whenever I am reading in the form of an eBook. Other than the economical conveniences that Claudia stated above, I also realized that it does wonders for my short attention span. I have become so accustomed to the format of an eBook that the amount of effort that I have to exert when reading a paper book is foreign to me.
ReplyDeleteI agree with Faith. Using a tablet to read a book, is much more helpful. Say there is a word you do not understand, all you have to do is highlight that word with your finger and in seconds you can read the definition online. You could even change the size of the words if you have trouble reading small text. There is so much you could do. The only thing i can think of that you can't do when reading on a tablet, is writing notes on a certain page you were interested in or just had a thought about what was written.
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