Have you ever heard of electronic books, or more commonly called, e-books? It seems that almost everyone has. Some people may be surprised to know that e-books and e-readers are not new. E-books were invented in 1971 by Michael Hart, the founder of Project Gutenberg and e-readers grabbed people’s attentions when they were introduced in 1998 with the making of the Rocket E-book and the Softbook. They did not become as popular because the early e-readers were introduced to digital immigrants, or people who were introduced to technology at an older age. These digital immigrants preferred to stick to the physical books that they were used to. E-readers probably seemed like an unnecessary device. But when the Amazon Kindle was introduced in 2007, it was introduced to digital natives and digital immigrants that were even more attuned to technology and more open to it. Not to mention, our world has become way more digital in the last 20 years so the e-reader that seemed unnecessary in the 1990s, is more practical.

I am a digital native, but I am also a huge fan of books. I love to read and it has always been my favorite hobby. One would think that as a lover of books, I would have been thrilled to learn of e-readers. Surprisingly, I wasn’t. I was very apprehensive about it. To me, reading felt like such a non-digital thing to do. I felt like the texture and weight of a book, turning the pages, and the smell of books was all part of the experience. Thinking about holding a cold, hard device instead of a book just seemed uncomfortable for me. Although I was doubtful when it came to reading e-books instead of physical, printed ones, I was curious as a digital native of the new technology of e-readers. With this curiosity, I bought Barnes and Noble’s e-reader, the Nook. I found that having the e-reader was even more convenient than reading printed books. Surprisingly, the device was not that different from a book and with the e-reader, I could store 1500 books into one lightweight device and could buy books in the comfort of my home. The stylish design was appealing and the E Ink® technology made the print look exactly like a printed page. I could also change the font style and size. For all the large font book buyers, this is a very convenient feature. With my e-reader, I am even able to lend books to others. I found that I would not mind if all the books of the world were replaced by e-readers and e-books. My fear of changing from a physical book to an e-reader was irrational and even unfair to e-readers.

I am not the only one that has discovered the wonderful convenience and pleasure of e-books and e-readers. On July 19, 2010, Amazon announced that during the previous three months, Kindle e-book sales were higher than the sales of hardcover books. Amazon said that during the three months they sold 143 Kindle e-books for every 100 hardcover books, including hardcover books that aren’t in Kindle book format (“Kindle”, New York Times). An article in the International Business Times entitled “E-Readers at a Glance” by Gabriel Perna reports that although Amazon does not report exact figures on the Kindle, analysts estimate about 3.5 to 4 million have been sold. These are just statistics for the Kindle. Put into consideration of all the Nooks and Sony e-Readers sold, not to mention all the other e-readers that are not as popular, but still part of the market. The number of e-readers sold in the past couple years becomes mind blowing. Plus, the sales of e-readers are predicted to rise incredibly. The Boston Consulting Group (BCG) surveyed 12,717 web users from 14 different countries for two days. They reported on March of 2009 that 28% of all respondents and 51% of the people that said they were familiar with e-readers and tablets said they planned to buy an e-reader or tablet within the next year. Those percentages jumped to 49% and 73%, when they were asked if they'd buy a device within three years. ("Surge in E-readers, tablets predicted within three years", Library Journal) But when we talk about the popularity of e-books, people don’t have to own an e-reader to read e-books. They can still read them on other devices such as iPhones, PCs, and Macs, just to mention a few. This means that the popularity of e-books will rise at an even greater rate than that of e-readers.

Although the e-books and e-readers are becoming immensely popular and are now part of a mass market, some still favor the printed page. An associate director for The Center for the Humanities at Washington University in St. Louis, Jian Leng, wrote an article “The future of ink on paper: try this on a kindle” in the St. Louis Journalism Review. In this article, he writes about how he read about a prep school in New England who digitalized their library and now has TV screen showing data from the internet and 18 e-readers. He also talks about the history of books and how he believes that even if e-books become our next form of reading, physical books will still be around, possibly just more expensive. He expresses his love for physical books by saying, “… the physicality of a book is a much more beautiful information-storage device than an electronic machine, and provides a dimension of pleasure unequalled by the digital alternative”.

The printed book might have “a dimension of pleasure unequalled by the digital alternative” for some people, but they probably have not used an e-reader for more than a short trial, if they even tried it. E-readers are not different from other forms of technology. When cell phones were first introduced, people thought they were immensely uncomfortable and different. If they only played around with one for a little bit, they would never think about ever learning how to use it and become comfortable with it. Plus, the fact that they could not become comfortable with in the first five minutes of use makes them close their mind to it. So, the people who say that the pleasures of reading that are in books cannot be replaced by e-readers probably have not opened their mind to the new technology. Change is always uncomfortable at first and the generations that went from tablets to scrolls, or scrolls to books, and now books to e-readers will hold on to what they are used to at first. People will transition and everyone will be more comfortable with e-readers. Just as no one expects people to own a scroll from the ancient libraries of Alexandria, no one will expect people to own books.

Although some may express the opinion of how physical books are more pleasurable to read, I feel the generation who had to transition from scrolls to books felt the same way about the change. Printed books only seem more pleasurable for many because they are more used to them. Not only did they learn with them and use them as young children, they used them as adults so printed books are part of their comfort zone. These people should be more open minded and try to adjust to the new ways of the digital world. I believe that even if the digital immigrants don’t prefer the e-reader and e-books over printed books, the digital natives and generations of readers afterward will enjoy reading e-books and using e-readers if not much more than printed books.