Am I just a dirty, scorn-deserving old man or has a new, young love bloomed?
I feel guilty.
It’s like I am a teenager who swore their undying love to a prom date and now a new hottie has come along that has caught my eye and I am thinking, “Well, I don’t recall actually getting officially married. And, okay, officially, we’re still going to the prom together but a fella can date in the interim, can’t he? Especially, if he’s willing to allow her to date as well?”
Are you confused yet about the pangs of my heart and lust in my soul ? Well, join the club because so am I.
See, in the scenario above, I am a reader, printed books are the steadfast, well-seasoned girlfriend, and eBooks are the new hottie on the block which have my head spinning – as well as the entire school’s.
Now, of course, printed books will always remain constant and steady and dependable. How can you knock that?
Yet me, as a reader, I am allowed to flirt with eBooks aren’t I? Maybe even have a few serious affairs with them?
Can I have my cake and eat it too or am I a Book Chauvinist oppressing the beautiful feminine spirit of printed books like some middle age reader having a mid-life crisis right now?
The hot and sexy thing who is fun and interesting and filled with limitless possibilities is seducing me and I, Mister Reader, feel akin to a weak male with weaker flesh… and I am succumbing to these tantalizing flings, all the while promising in my heart that I will never really l leave my first and purest love.
Printed book, I do love you! But right now, I want to scoot off to Tahiti with an eBook that resembles more Brazilian bikini than she does one-piece moo-moo.
I mean, WOW… check out that body and those moves on that eBook!
(And do you know what she can do in bed? Let’s face it… you just kind of lay there.)
Oh my goodness, am I losing my mind?
And if I do go off the deep end, does that mean that I can’t ever come to you, my original love?
Will printed books hold a grudge?
Will eBooks prove vacuous and empty and meaningless and shallow?
Am I just a dirty, scorn-deserving old man or has a new young love bloomed?
My heart is torn asunder.
I am right there with you, Alan. I bought a Kindle in November, and other than what I assigned my students, I did not read paper, printed books again until May. I enjoyed the feel of the Kindle in my hands (still do). I enjoyed the clicking back and forth to various pages (still do). I enjoyed clipping articles, highlighting text and annotating it (still do). But since May, I haven't bought any ebooks, just paper books. I'm swinging back the other way. I still enjoy my Kindle and read on it every few days, but more and more, you'll see me with a paper book in my hands. I think it's more of a hybrid of reading that bibliophiles like us will end up doing, and that's okay.
I am right there with you, Alan. I bought a Kindle in November, and other than what I assigned my students, I did not read paper, printed books again until May. I enjoyed the feel of the Kindle in my hands (still do). I enjoyed the clicking back and forth to various pages (still do). I enjoyed clipping articles, highlighting text and annotating it (still do). But since May, I haven’t bought any ebooks, just paper books. I’m swinging back the other way. I still enjoy my Kindle and read on it every few days, but more and more, you’ll see me with a paper book in my hands. I think it’s more of a hybrid of reading that bibliophiles like us will end up doing, and that’s okay.