Ebooks represent the most influential
revolution in the way we read books that has happened since the
invention of the printing press. With ebooks, book lovers need not carry books with them if they want to read; they can instead carry an entire
library of books. The sheer power of this change is still not yet
fully recognized by many people.
How you read ebooks, though, is what
presents the greatest challenge to readers. If you've ever tried to
read a novel on a desktop computer, you'll know exactly what I mean;
you can estimate how many chapters you've read so far by how badly
your back hurts. A laptop makes things much easier, allowing you to
recline in a sofa while you're reading, making it much easier on your
back.
Unfortunately, laptops have one large
disadvantage: they're bright. At first, this may seem a strange thing
to say; after all, don't paper books also require bright light? But a
moment's thought will serve to explain why it's completely different.
A regular book has black on white text, which you then illuminate in
order to see. However, an ebook on a laptop screen has both black and
white light coming from the screen directly at your eyes. The
difference may not seem like much, but it most definitely is. A few
hours with a Kindle will prove this to you firsthand; unlike laptops,
the kindle uses technology akin to the old etch-a-sketch toys—this
makes the words on a kindle more like a book, with black on white
lettering that has to be illuminated in order to be seen. Reading on
a Kindle is a lot like reading a book; while your eyes do get tired
after a long while, it does not do so any more than reading a paper
book does. But reading on a laptop, despite being better for your
back than a desktop, is still just as bad for your eyes. No long-term
damage is done by reading from a screen, but readers' eyes tend to go
red and hurt after long sessions of intense reading.
Still, if you don't have a Kindle, the
benefits of using a laptop to read trumps the drawbacks for many
people. The ability to read multiple books without having to carry
each one along with you is extraordinary, and well worth the pain
after long bouts of reading. Plus, if you only read for an hour or
two at a time, then the drawbacks never really come into play at all.
Of course, yet another alternative
might be more to your liking: audio books. While definitely more
expensive than ebooks, audio books allow you to read without bothering
your eyes at all, and they also give you the ability to read while
performing other tasks, like cooking or working out. However, if you do
turn to audiobooks, be wary of free tracks. Free ebooks are generally
good. See Project Gutenberg for an example of high quality free
ebooks, but free audio books often use a narrator who is not paid
very well (if at all), and this definitely shows up in the quality of
the work. When using audio books, the quality of the narrator is
second only in importance to the quality of the author.
