e-readers are the bomb, etc.

Being an English student, my favorable opinion of e-readers often strikes people as blasphemous and immediately turns me into a turncoat, an enemy of the cause. However, I’ve never been entirely clear on what exactly the cause may be. When my comrades refuse to kneel in front of their lord god Kindle, they are in effect, attempting to fight the future. Not only is that the subtitle of a highly mediocre X-Files movie, it is also an extremely pretentious and sentimental act.

Whenever I sing the praises of the Kindle, people often curl their lips up in disgust/rage. They are mad because, to them, books must be read on paper; they like the feel of it in their hands because it is something substantial; it is a piece of something bigger than them. They also believe that some sort of alchemy occurs between the book and the reader. However, with the revolutionary invention of e-ink, reading a book on the Kindle and reading a book on paper embody a distinction without a difference. Furthermore, larger tomes like Ulysses and War and Peace always weigh the same when you read them on the Kindle and the less physical exertion it takes to do something, the more inclined I am to do it, so that is a definite draw for the professionally lazy. The idea that the intimate relationship between reader and book cannot be duplicated on a digital book is an incredibly opaque notion, for the book and the Kindle are merely vessels through which a message is delivered. That being said, the message is delivered in a far superior way on the Kindle or any other e-reader for that matter.

The reason you would use an e-reader is the same reason you use an iPod. It is convenience itself. Instead of carrying around my CD collection (do people still have those?) or my book collection, it is possible to simply carry a device that stores everything I could ever listen to and everything I could ever read. This definitely comes in handy when traveling and also when going to school. For example, instead of purchasing the physical copy of a novel for class, you can just download it either from Amazon (for money) or use the internet for what it was meant for and get it for free. In fact, the ability to download books for free—if you’re of the pirate persuasion of course—is reason enough to buy an e-reader. If you download music, and I’m sure you do, why not download books?

E-readers are much more than iPod’s for books, though. The Kindle, for instance, is a 3G device and allows the user to use the internet much in the same way one uses a BlackBerry or an iPhone to use the internet. Additionally, merely by highlighting a word with the cursor the Kindle immediately brings up the definition of the highlighted word, saving the user the frustration and tedium of having to consult a physical dictionary; for people (like me) who love words, this is an invaluable feature.

Set aside your sentimentality and pretensions and see e-readers for what they are: the future. You’re not listening to CD’s, you’re not typing assignments on a typewriter, and you’re not watching goddamn LaserDiscs, why are you reading books on paper?