Since books hold a special place in our lives, and since environmental topics have interested me for a while now, it was their turn: my beloved books. This isn’t a classic environmental text; instead, I’ll try to briefly show you the pros and cons of printed and electronic books.
As someone who uses both every day, and as someone who has done detailed (theoretical and practical) research into the real pros and cons of both kinds of books, I feel both called upon and obliged to lay them out for you.
Printed books are (after my family) my greatest love, and I won’t bore you too much with that. In short:
It’s true that nothing in this world can replace the smell of printed paper, or the feeling of a book in your hands.
Printed books are timeless, they have been around for centuries, and no, they won’t disappear.
And we shouldn’t overlook the objective sense of how much you’ve already read while you hold a book in your hands, which is certainly missing with electronic editions.
The Feel of a Book in Your Hands
As for the advantages of e-books, yes, they exist too. Above all, a huge number of books fit into a small space (your e-reader, phone, tablet, laptop).
They can always be with you without being heavy to carry. You can read them even when there’s no light in the room or the light is poor.
They’re easy to get (which doesn’t mean they’re always cheaper: in Germany, for example, e-books also have a fixed price set by the publisher by law, so the difference from the printed edition is often small).
The Biggest Confusion Is About the Environmental Question
Yes, printed books are made from wood. But on the other hand, paper recycles extremely well: more and more paper comes from certified, sustainably managed forests, and recycling paper releases far fewer harmful emissions than recycling some other materials. More and more publishers also print books on recycled paper, so you could poetically say that a book has many lives ahead of it and behind it. So in that sense, they are environmentally friendly.
On the other side, we have e-books. It’s true that a huge number of books fit into a small device, but we have to ask ourselves: what is that device made of? How is it charged?
First of all, there is still no way to recycle electronic devices (e-readers included) in a completely “painless” way. Then there’s the problem that if you store your e-books in any cloud, that doesn’t mean they’re really floating in the air; they sit on one of those huge servers that both use too much electricity and aren’t made of recycled materials themselves.
So think carefully before you rush to defend either side.
I’d rather say it’s a matter of personal preferences and habits. That’s the only fair thing to say.
My Personal Compromise: Both
Since I don’t live in Serbia but love reading books in my mother tongue, the options for getting printed books in Serbian are obviously very limited.
On the other hand, as someone who does academic work, I also read a lot of books in digital form. Above all, it’s impossible to carry all the books you need to the reading room every day; there are simply too many and they’re heavy.
Many of the books I need can’t be taken out of the reading room at all, so it’s much easier to scan the chapters I need and read them later at home on a tablet or laptop.
Scanning is very practical for me for another reason too: while reading the scans, I immediately mark and copy the quotes I’ve chosen into the program I use. That way I save time when writing, because I don’t have to copy the quotes out again.
Another advantage of scanning is that when you use books sent to you on loan from other libraries across Germany, you scan them once and can use them every time you need them again. And believe me, that happens far more often than you might think.
On the other hand, the books I know I’ll need again and again, and that are generally important for my field of research, I always try to buy and keep in my own library. Sometimes they’re new, and very often second-hand but in excellent condition (another ode to Amazon and the other sites that make it possible to get books quickly and cheaply from anywhere in the world).
Maybe the least important argument is that you actually don’t need every book in print, because realistically there are books you read once and never again, and there are books you regret reading even that once, so why should such a book take up space on your (already overflowing) shelf?
What Matters Is That We Read
Then again, you can’t read only “quality” literature all the time; we’re only human, for heaven’s sake. Sometimes it’s nice to read a light “beach read” by Sophie Kinsella and have a good laugh. But do I need to own it? Not really. That’s when an e-book is just the thing. It’s easier to delete it without guilt once you’ve finished than, God forbid, to throw away a printed one. (Although you can always give a printed book away, donate it, or borrow a copy from the library.)
Whether you’re a fan of printed or electronic books, I respect your choice.
As for me, I can’t be two-faced and say that one is better than the other, or, God forbid, that one will kill the other. Both have their advantages, and obvious drawbacks too. What matters is that we read.
S-Mama
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