Choosing between reading Paper Books or Ebooks?

Currently, this is also a topic that causes many book readers to argue. I will share my opinion on this issue because I see many of you searching for free shared ebooks.

5 reasons you should read paper books instead of ebooks

1. Cooler.

Are you more impressed with a guy who sips a cup of coffee and reads a book or a guy who also has a cup of coffee and is plugged into his phone or tablet like a virtual person.

Today's boring scene is that wherever you go, you see people around you plugged into their smartphones. Besides when they need to use their smartphones for work, most of them surf Facebook, watch clips, and chat.

That's why you know, from far away, murder in Dong Nai, Singer A, model B wearing butt-padded pants, jealousy live streaming hundreds of kilometers away from you... you also know... but sometimes Meanwhile, your wife is having an affair with another guy and you don't know...

Damn, I'm a bit off topic...

In short, you will be different from society and look very civilized when reading paper books.

2. Absorb knowledge better.

Perhaps due to many reasons, I always find using paper books to gain better knowledge. In my opinion, it is due to the feeling of appreciating knowledge when turning each page of a book by hand compared to swiping on the screen.

Our brains have almost defaulted after many years that when we open a book, we will focus on gathering knowledge more than entertainment-oriented media such as Mobile and Tablet. At the same time, you will not be bothered by notifications on your phone such as Facebook notifications, Email notifications, etc. Even if the notifications are for entertainment or work, they are interrupting your reading.

3. Keep your eyes healthy.

Of course, this issue does not need to be discussed, no manufacturer of LED screens, liquid crystal screens or any other type of screen dares to commit to completely filtering out blue light. As you know, blue light is light contained in the sun's ultraviolet rays, so it is very harmful to your eyes.

Calculate how much time a day you spend looking at computer and smartphone screens? So why read books on your phone when you can preserve your eyes by reading paper books. Of course, that doesn't mean reading paper books isn't harmful to your eyes. Use anti-sighted lights and rest your eyes every 30 minutes of reading.

Reading a book before going to bed is a good thing, but if you read a book with a phone screen, the light from your phone will make it harder for you to sleep. Therefore, you should read paper books before going to bed.

At the same time, the weight of phones and tablets is quite heavy, so when holding and reading, your hands get tired very quickly.

4. Easily store and look up information.

Reading books with ebooks has the only benefit that is "more convenient". If you need to read and take notes, or use a pen to take notes, using an ebook is very difficult.

I personally hate writing or marking up books, so I often write down the summary of the book on a piece of paper. When you need to glance at it to get an overview of the book's content.

But many of you regularly use highlighters to mark important parts in books. It depends on each person's method, how we can best store and use knowledge.

5. Buy paper books because of copyright.

When I write this, many people will probably purse their lips because they think this has nothing to do with them and it's stupid to waste money on paper books, copyright, when you can read it for free online, etc.

I used to be like that too!

Think about it, if everyone uses pirated books, where will publishers get the money to buy copyrights, to produce and translate good books for you and the community? And what do authors use to support themselves and their families to write good works for you?

Everyone thinks it's not their business, so whose business will it be? Perhaps you are not familiar with this because Vietnam is so used to using smuggled goods. So, if you don't have money, you can use pirated goods, but when the economy allows, you should buy real books. I guarantee that when you read real books, you will feel much better than pirated books or ebooks!

Experience reading Ebooks with Kindle

However, all I wrote above is to compare the experience between reading paper books and reading ebooks with a phone or tablet. I wrote the above article in 2017. Recently, because my bookshelf was full and had no place to put it, I bought a Kindle whitepaper 2019 gen 10 reader to use. And the experience it gave me was great, even though before, as you read above, I was a big fan of paper books.

This is not a review article, I just write the reasons that I find great after using Kindle for a while so that everyone can refer to it to choose:

• Convenient, can read any book anywhere.

This is the most convenient point compared to paper books. Kindle is only as small as a digital book and very light (other versions will be a bit heavier than the one I use), so it's very convenient to carry. I usually put it in the inside pocket of my overcoat so I can take it with me wherever I go.

Large memory so you can store thousands of books to carry everywhere. Especially long novels, such as The Fountainhead - 1200 pages, if you carry a bag of paper, it must be equivalent to lifting weights.

The version I bought is 32GB, but I think just the 8GB storage version is comfortable. However, if you like large capacity or often read manga, you can buy the 32Gb version, the difference is only about 500-600k.

• E-Ink screen and backlight

Many people think that spending money to buy a black and white device that doesn't play games, doesn't surf the web, doesn't listen to music, or watch videos is crazy, but I find Kindle worth every penny I spend. The first reason is that it brings knowledge, not entertainment, wasting time.

The E-ink screen gives you an experience like reading a paper book, there is no blue light so it does not glare or harm your eyes, the 300dpi screen helps you read as sharp as reading a paper book.

Kindle will have backlit and non-backlit versions depending on your intended use so you can choose, the backlit version will be more expensive. I often read at night so I bought the backlit version so I don't have to use a desk lamp anymore. The backlight is a side-to-side LED light so it is not harmful to the eyes like an LCD screen.

However, each person will have different preferences, some people will like the feeling of reading and turning on the desk lamp or night light. I often lie in bed turned sideways so reading the light is a bit inconvenient, and at the same time, I don't have to turn on the light and it doesn't affect the people around me.

• Strong battery, no need to charge for a whole month.

Kindle's battery is extremely durable. If you read a book for half an hour every day, you can read for about a month before having to plug in the charger, so you almost don't need to worry about charging too much, and the jack is the same as an Android phone's jack. so it's very easy for you when you need to charge.

• Dictionary, Look up information.

This is a really cool feature on Kindle. You can go online to download and copy the dictionary to your Kindle for use. When reading a book, just hold down the word you want to look up and the word's meaning will appear. At the same time, Kindle also helps you quickly look up information on Wikipedia, which is very convenient, isn't it?

I personally feel that paper books and ebooks both have their own strengths and weaknesses. Mainly due to preferences and usage circumstances.

I am currently still using paper books and ebooks. Sometimes there are many new books that don't exist or don't have ebooks, so I will buy paper books. It's a pity that in Vietnam, publishers have not found a useful solution for publishing ebooks because the copyright issue is quite a difficult problem.

Currently, you can only buy ebooks and read them in some apps on your phone, but I really recommend that you do not read books on your phone or tablet (except for specialized documents in PDF, the tablet is current optimal solution). The reason is as I said above, looking at the phone screen is quite harmful to the eyes and easily distracted by entertainment and notification features.

On your phone, listening to audiobooks is a great solution. If possible, you can buy true wireless headphones, which will be very convenient, no need for messy wires, easy to change tracks, adjust volume or use Google Assistant. I find it very convenient because when I sit on the toilet, clean the house, cook,... I can listen without having to carry my phone.

This is just my personal opinion. How about you? Please comment below to discuss!