Ebooks are, without doubt, the wave of the future. In every category but one, they far surpass traditional books. They're easily distributed, easily edited and customized, and last forever. The only category in which paper books can compete is. . .hmm, call it sensory feedback. The mental picture (the experience) of a story is the same whether you're reading text on paper, or on a screen. What can differ is how comfortable you are with the actual delivery mechanism. So let me address that.

You have, for now, two primary technologies on which you can read ebooks. The first is a standard, backlit, electronic screen. A lot of people report eye strain after using these kinds of screens for long periods of time. I don't have a problem with them (I view screens between 12 and 14 hours on the average day, for work, school, etc), but I will readily admit that reading a book on this type of screen would not be my first choice. I much prefer paper books to reading on a computer screen, and it's for this reason that I didn't get into ebooks before buying a dedicated e-reader.

These dedicated e-readers are the other option you have, and reading on them is a MUCH better experience. Why?

1) The screen is not backlit, and does not refresh until you turn a page. No harsh lights, no flicker, nothing. This means there's no more eye strain than you'd get reading from a paper book. You can also read perfectly in direct sunlight. In fact, you're only likely to notice one major difference. Ebook screens are (for the most part) tinted slightly gray, while most paper is slightly more white. This doesn't make any difference to me, but it is a matter of personal preference. The next generation or two of readers should have much whiter backgrounds, so this won't be an issue for long.

2) It's genuinely more comfortable to read with an ebook reader. Most of them weigh a bit less than the average paperback, and MUCH less than any hardcover you'll find. That means they're a lot easier to hold in one hand. This is made even more true by the fact that readers are weighted more comfortably. Trying to read a paperback book in one hand while on the first few pages, or the last few pages, doesn't work very well. Obviously it's not a terribly huge deal, but the ebook reader feels the same on every page. Additionally, the reader's buttons are perfectly placed to be right where your fingers naturally go when holding a book. You don't have to use your other hand to turn the page, or try to awkwardly do it with one hand. Hit a button, and you're there. There's less interruption of the mental story you've got going.

3) The book display can be customized to taste. Maybe your eyes aren't as good as they once were. With a paperback, you have to remember your reading glasses. With your reader, you hit one button, and the font size doubles. No need for glasses! Maybe you hate the font that a particular publisher uses. With your reader, you can change it! Pick something more clear, or more compact, or more open, whatever you like. Depending on how complicated you want to get, you can do almost anything you want to a book. With paper, you're stuck.

So. Those three reasons are why I think it's more enjoyable to read on an e-reader. Ultimately it comes down to personal preference, but there are enough tangible benefits (I tried to lay them out above) that I really think someone trying both for the first time would prefer the reader. I've noticed that no one who actually owns an ereader (that I've met) genuinely prefers reading on paper. You can say that they feel the need to defend/justify their expensive purchase, and to some extent that's true, but I still think it says something. It seems to me that those who are most adamant in defense of paper are caught up in a romantic love affair with books. There's nothing wrong with that, but they're being affected more by nostalgia and memories. The fact that they prefer books shouldn't be seen as evidence of the superiority of paper.

Final thoughts: I'll list a few more benefits of readers.

1) Carry your entire library with you at any time. You can, if you want. Most come with enough memory for a couple hundred books, but put a 16gb flash card in there, and you can fit everything you've got.

2) Battery life. Left on standby (we're not even talking off, here) they will last for a couple MONTHS. Reading it for an hour or two daily, you'll get several weeks out of a fully charged battery. Reading it from full charge to no charge in one sitting takes approximately 6-12 thousand page flips. Think of how many books that is. People say "oh, you can't take it on trips where you can't charge it" but how many people frequently go without seeing an electrical socket for a couple weeks? And at home, remembering to charge it once every few weeks is not a hassle worth mentioning. Most people plug their phones in nightly, after all. Remembering to charge once or twice a month is quite simple.

3) Durability. This is a complaint I hear mentioned a lot, and is not justified. My reader is almost two years old, and I stuff it in a backpack with engineering textbooks almost daily. It's made of solid metal (I have a Sony, Kindle might be plastic) and it came with a faux-leather case that protects it nicely. If I stuffed a book in my backpack all the time, it would have long since shredded away to nothing. As an aside, my friend accidentally left his reader on his car roof once, and it fell off while he was driving. . .and got run over by the car behind him. Apart from scratches on the metal, the device was fine. I'm not saying this is typical or advisable, but they're hardly fine china.

4) Price. I understand peoples qualms over what ebooks will do to the price of books, and those are understandable fears. That says nothing against the ebook or reader technology, though. It just says that producers have to figure out how to price and sell ebooks. They will, sooner or later, and it's fairly certain that ebooks will be cheaper, due to the lack of printing and distribution overhead.

Anyway. That's enough for now. To those who actually read all of that, thanks, and I apologize. If you have any comments, I'll definitely try to respond.