However, I've come to a crossroad that I hadn't really anticipated before I got my Kindle. I'm starting to read things in which I want to highlight and refer back to certain sections. Now, when I was reading primarily fiction works, this wasn't so much of an issue for me, because I would just re-read the whole book. But I've found that some of my textbooks and assigned readings for classes and some books I use in my 12 in 12 resolution are available on Kindle. When it comes to non-fiction works, I've found that I enjoy highlighting and referring back to previous sections.
I know that Kindle has the capability of underlining certain portions of text, which is effectively highlighting, as well as inserting "bookmarks" which is like dog-earring a page, but I haven't found them to be particularly satisfying, when it comes to reviewing what I've gone over.
So I return to the common debate held by many who are contemplating the transition between printed books to e-books: which is better? I'm not too sure. There are pros and cons to both sides. I'll go through some comparisons that I've come up with.
Area of Comparison
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Winner
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Cost
Assuming a Kindle will last, an $80 Kindle will pay for itself in about 25 books.
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Kindle
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Weight
Personally, you just can’t beat the heft of an actual book.
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Book
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Easy to get more books?
This is one area where the Kindle really shines. You can get more books wherever you have Internet access.
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Kindle
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Smell
I don’t know about you, but there’s something about the smell of the pages of a book that you’re reading…
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Book
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Physical size/Portability
Although I already said that you can’t beat the heft of an actual book, when it comes to portability, the size of a book counts against it. Especially if you’re bringing more than one. Plus, on a Kindle, you don’t have to worry so much about bending the pages during transportation.
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Kindle
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Sharing with a friend
The Kindle book lending feature is pretty lame. Only once for 14 days? Printed book wins by a landslide.
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Book
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Library Security
House burned down and lost all your books? That sucks. Dropped your Kindle off a mountainside as you were reading while on a backpacking trip? Replace the Kindle and Amazon has all of your books saved in its cloud network.
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Kindle
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Reviewing/Finding specific parts
This is the clincher for me. I really like being able to flip through some books, whether it’s re-reading something the author is referring back to or finding something for a paper. Paper is also more useful in a group discussion setting.
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Book
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Extra-reading Utility
Ever use a book to balance a wobbly table or chair? A step? Kindling for a fire? Fuel for a paper airplane war? Enough said.
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Book
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Ultimately, I'm not entirely convinced that there is ever going to be a clear and decisive winner in this debate. What about you? Do you prefer one over the other? Leave a comment and let me know where you stand in this debate!
Definitely I will choose the Kindle, but only because I travel a lot and I can't take with me all the printed books I would want to read. It's great that I found All you can books... a free site with hundreds of my favorite books and I can spend a great time reading them when I have a little spare time.
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