I’m not a bibliophile—not, at least, in the purest sense of the word (n., a person who loves or collects books, especially as examples of fine or unusual printing, binding, or the like). I love books, of course, but I don’t treat them like works of art. I love to read them—and when I read them I dog-ear the pages, and bend their spines to mark my place, and highlight them, and write in them. My books have ragged covers and torn pages and creased spines and coffee stains. I’m probably a librarian’s worst nightmare. I love books, but the physical packages themselves aren’t what matters to me.
That being said, I still can’t quite bring myself to embrace the digital revolution. I simply don’t like reading ebooks. I do read them (I don’t have an ereader; I use the Kindle for PC app), but usually only when I can’t get my hands on a physical copy, or when it’s something I’m reading for school and I don’t expect to enjoy it anyway that’s significantly cheaper in electronic format.
Aside from strictly aesthetic considerations—ebook design is still quite clunky and unappealing, not to mention glitch-ridden—it’s so much easier for me to immerse myself in the world of the book if I’m reading, well, a physical book. I visualize things better, perhaps because I read print books more slowly. I tend to skim electronic text, picking out only what’s most obviously “important”; social media has, unfortunately, trained my eyes and mind this way. I read more now than I did before the advent of ebooks. I read stuff I probably wouldn’t have ever read otherwise. But the way I read has changed, and mostly for the worse. I now tend to rush through books without taking the time to really absorb what I’m reading. I tend to multi-task while reading ebooks; I become distracted and lose interest more quickly. The fault is mine, not the fault of the ebook as a medium. But the fact remains there is, for me, a qualitative difference between reading a physical book and reading an ebook. (And, as shown above, not because I’m “one of those ‘love the smell of books’ people.”)
Obviously that’s all subjective; I’m sure other people find ebooks just as engaging as print. My point is that there are other reasons for preferring print format than that print books are somehow sacred. I can’t argue with the fact that ebooks are more convenient and cost-effective, but I worry about letting “convenience” dictate my reading experience.