E-Books Are Our Friends

Why does everyone hate e-books?

Okay. I get it. You like the good ol' fashioned the-way-grandpa-used-to-read book. That's fine. You like the touch of them. You like the feel. You like real paper under your fingers.

I like vinyl. I like the smell of the old records, I like the crackle as the sound comes out of my Dad's old speaker. I like the beautiful black colour of the records. I like putting them on the turn table and watching them spin. But I tell you something.

I can't fit a turntable, a record, or a big old speaker in my pocket. I can, however, fit an iPhone loaded with mp3 files into my pocket. I can't fit my whole bookcase into my pocket. Hell, I can't even fit Ray Bradbury's 'The Illustrated man' into my pocket. In a pinch I might just be able to squeeze my copy of 'Call of Cthulhu' in there. But I can fit an iPhone into my pocket, packed with e-books. Ray Bradbury, H. P Lovecraft, Terry Pratchett, Neil Gaiman, they go with me everywhere now.

The turntable and the vinyls are not bad. Neither is my book case.

However, just because they are new and challenging does not mean e-books are bad either.

I mean, in the end, I love Ray Bradbury. I love his words. Not the substance they were printed on. The paper of 'Call of Cthulhu' isn't why I fell in love with H.P Lovecraft, I love him for his ideas.

Why can't we just have both? Stop bullying new ideas. It's not a new idea. Ask Thomas Watt.