After listening to a recent radio story about people still preferring physical books over e-books, I decided to write why I generally prefer e-books.
Having recently read several long length biographies and Russian novels using Kindle on my iPad, I found several advantages.
Perhaps most important is that while reading I am able to quickly investigate something of interest—historical facts, locations, items, words, or people. If I were reading a physical book, I likely would not stop, put the book down, and then start searching. With an e-book, I can highlight the item of interest to investigate further. Highlighting often provides more information. If that approach doesn’t work, then I can search on the internet.
With long and complex Russian novels—such as Fyodor Dostoevsky’s Crime and Punishment (Vintage Classics) and Leo Tolstoy’s Anna Karenina—I found the Kindle’s X-Ray feature invaluable. When I come across a character that I’ve forgotten, I can use the X-Ray feature to quickly spot where the character was mentioned. If the X-Ray feature is not available for a particular book, simply searching the book is a good substitute.
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Moreover, I often like to highlight or annotate specific passages. With e-books, I can easily markup text without physically damaging the book. Later, if desired, I can simply delete my markups. With Kindle, I can easily find all my highlights and annotations.
And last, I like that my e-books are extremely portable and readable across several devices.
Even though I prefer e-books, I sometimes purchase both the e-book and a physical version.
Those are my reasons for generally preferring e-books over physical books. Regardless of whether you prefer to read an e-book or physical book, it’s great to read.