Top 10 Reasons an eReader is Better than Paper Books

The written word has carried us through sociocultural revolutions from our ancient cave walls to Kindles. It brought us from the bottom of the food chain, trembling in the savannahs, to the lords of the Earth. The written word has been passed down from generation to generation since its earliest manifestations as abstract symbols and hieroglyphics.  Ideas and information passed from person to person and between generations.  Humanity is now on a precipice. 

The age of the printed word is coming to an end.

On one hand we could stop advancing, slowing the distribution of knowledge.  On the other we can embrace the unprecedented technological advances before us and give our knowledge to even more of our fellow human beings.

A little perspective is in order. This is an important subject, one that has implications for all of humanity as well as the environment itself in the 21st century.  Nothing less can be considered, less the art of sarcism be denied.

1. Ecological Impact: The most frightening danger human beings face is climate change. The deforestation across our world is tipping the Eco-sphere into a condition that leads to an unsustainable future for our species. While eBook manufacturing isn’t perfect or completely "Green," they are a huge step in the right direction. Human beings simply can't afford to keep cutting down trees for print books.
2. Economic Impact: With technology the engines of commerce are digitizing. Less and less manual labor is required with automation. Once the dust clears, humans will be thankful for technologies like eReaders in the same way they were thankful for simple tools, the wheel and fire.
3. eReaders are the Future: sales are shooting higher and higher into the stratosphere; with no evidence of slowing.  It has become clear that reading a book on an electronic device is preferred to the pulp of a dead tree.
4. New Age Communication: eReaders and eBooks bring with them webs of connective tissue between people with common interests, preferences, and tastes. Through eReaders and the web connection that comes with them, communities of readers and enthusiasts can communicate like never before over incredible distances.
5. Electronic Note Taking: Instead of having to use a pen and put marks all over physical book pages, eReaders have the ability to leave digital ones that do not mess up or damage a thing.
6. Instant Verification: No more do scholars have to leaf through endless references, they can simply right click, highlight, and verify through the internet.  Not only can they cross reference vital information, deception is reduced when a falsehood is instantly revealed.
7. Searchable: Digital book marks; in-book search engines.  Skip to the passage you wish to recall.  Bypass the clutter and get to exactly the information you need.
8. Mobile Library: eReaders can contain an endless library. How many books can a human being carry at one time? Rather than having books stacking up everywhere, they can be neatly kept in one place.   You can grow you library almost as fast as you can look up a new source.
9. Modernizing Education: The role that eReaders are going to play in education is unprecedented. Research will be conducted in ways our ancestors could never have imagined. In the palm of the hand will be contained an easily navigated collective of human intelligence.
10. Enduring Potential: Little worry of lost information when each copy is a good as the original.  Altered copies will diminish because every instance can be verified for integrity by comparison to many others.  This is the most exciting of the reasons eReader better the paper book, where they are bringing us.

The transition is well underway but it isn't pretty from all angles, just as the onset of the automobile killed the market for the horsewhip.  The system is changing, in ways that we don’t yet recognize.  When the dust settles, the world will be richer for the revolution.

If you are interested in learning more, see Choosing an eReader.

What about the counter point?  

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Top 10 Reasons Paper Books are Better than an eReader