Quite a few friends have explained that they don't like to read ebooks. The same people often say they like "real" books, by which they almost always mean traditional books, hard or soft cover, bound together pages made of paper. On Feb. 8, somebody at Amazon, maybe a bot (robot or software), sent me a group of book titles and quite a few rang enough of a bell that I bought them. Naturally, I haven't looked at most of them yet but maybe I will. One that sticks in my mind is Keith Houston's "The Book: A Cover to Cover Exploration of the Most Powerful Object of Our Time."
I think "reading" means different things to different people.
There is no Frigate like a Book (1286)
There is no Frigate like a Book
To take us Lands away
Nor any Coursers like a Page
Of prancing Poetry –
This Traverse may the poorest take
Without oppress of Toll –
How frugal is the Chariot
That bears the Human Soul –
If "reading" is a special time that is reserved for thrills and spy adventures and conquering heroes, a person may not be comfortable AT FIRST with a change in posture, weight, etc. However, when people use their smartphone for all sorts of communication in text or email or visiting web sites or Facebook or Instagram or other social media, they are reading, by my definition.
So, don't give me the "I need the scent of a paper book", "the exercise involved in walking about looking for where I left my current book" stuff. Not when, in an age of high gasoline prices, high anti-biking winds, I can get wonderful books through the air with no wires in my Kindle reader that allows my elderly eyes to enlarge the print if I want. I admit that the app "Libby" does let me borrow some ebooks without cost but many wonderful books came out before 2008 and for those, I do need a heavy paper "book".
Still, I urge you to look at Amazon's World Book Day deal and accept any or all of its ten ebooks for free. There are lots of advantages to using ebooks. For instance, they don't need dusting.
