Ebooks vs. Books

Ebooks vs. Books: Who Wins?

Since the dawn of the Internet, millions of people have left physical books behind for ebooks and other forms of digital reading. Why? The physical advantage of being able to store multiple titles in one device.

Since Project Gutenberg’s first electronic versions of the Bill of Rights, U.S. Constitution, and Bible, the advent of Ebooks has dramatically impacted the world of modern readers.

But while Ebook sales have grown rapidly, and will continue to do so, there is still a strong case for the future of printed books.

Photo by pure julia

Ebooks vs. Books: A Brief Timeline

Will Books Become Obsolete?

A short answer: Probably Not in our lifetimes.

One big reason is education.

Schools, college’s, and universities all over the world still use printed books. Total global book sales are expected to go up 1.8% by 2030. Largely in part due to academic publishers catering to the vast market of medical, professional, and technical education. Globally: Non-educational book sales are small compared to the educational market.

Another reason is because of Covid, people picked up books and started reading again.

Books Feel Good

Books feel good in your hands. I’m guessing that many of those people enjoyed the physical sensation of turning a page. This act, of turning pages, differs from the meager swipe or an auto page turn or page flip. Some people rest their thumb and index fingers at the top of pages while reading. Some down at the bottom. Some turn pages rather fast and some turn pages with a long, slow swirl as the paper meows across the margin to its sweet landing, revealing the next page. These beloved behaviors are part of the human experience while reading a printed book and reinforced with every pleasurable page turn.

Photo by Annie Spratt

Books Smell Good

Besides the joy upon fingertips while turning pages, every printed book comes with its own personal smell. Endless combinations of paper, ink, and binding materials offer a multitude of intriguing scents, usually to the delight of the olfactory system. Some people crave the whiff of a freshly printed book. Some folks prefer the aroma of the breaking down of cellulose and lignin in an old book.

Printed books feel and smell good. I don’t know why, exactly. They just do.

Photo by David Lezcano

Ebooks are Amazing

• You can keep a portable library in one device.
• You can change fonts.
• The price of downloading an Ebook is much less than buying a stand-alone book.

These aspects of Ebooks have won over a majority of book buyers. And while printed paper has for centuries been the standard form of gathering information, the digital world has brought us audiobooks, Ebooks, and video, all in a short period of time. These digital formats are superior to their analog versions; books on tape, cumbersome tomes, point-and-shoot cameras, in the sense of their environmental footprint.

—(not counting the dangerous impact of the sum total of millions of web servers emanating heat around the globe 24/7). On that issue, I can’t say which is worse, analog or digital. But..

At the end of the day

All things considered, I think it’s safe to say that the printed word isn’t going away anytime soon.. There’s still too many of us who love reading books!

Bibliography

Banner Image by Dollar Gill

• https://bookscouter.com/blog/a-brief-history-of-ebooks/
• https://search.brave.com/search?q=The+Epic+of+Gilgamesh&source=desktop
• https://www.britannica.com/topic/publishing/Spread-of-education-and-literacy
• https://www.britannica.com/topic/publishing/The-age-of-early-printing-1450-1550
• https://www.grandviewresearch.com/industry-analysis/books-market
• https://www.statista.com/outlook/amo/media/books/worldwide
• https://gitnux.org/book-sales-statistics/
• https://scanse.io/blog/ebooks-vs-printed-books-statistics-sales-trends/