Books vs. e-Books:

Why I Like Books

* Because they come in all different sizes and colours
* Because you can draw on the blank pages, write notes in the margins, underline splendid words or even whole sentences, and (most important mark of ownership) write your name on the flyleaf
* Because you can censor words or phrases (or even on occasion whole passages) with a black marker
* Because the sense of acquisition is greater with thick, heavy volumes than with mere electrons on a screen
* Because you can burn them (an old and honourable tradition)
* Because when severely annoyed you can throw them across the room or hit someone with them
* Because you can tear the pictures out of them and hang them on your wall
* Because they look better as decorations
* Because you don’t need internet access to read them
* Because you can read them by the light of a candelabrum
* Because you can close them with a bang
* Because when they have sat for a long time on the shelf and you close them with a bang (see above), they send up clouds of dust
* Because you can hide notes, maps, codes, and diagrams of top-secret, technologically-advanced devices inside them
* Because you can use them to create a book cipher (if you don't know what that is, look it up on Wikipedia)
* What else are you going to do with your bookmark collection?
* Because the word ‘e-book’ is a slangy abbreviation of the correct term, ‘electronic book’
* Because correctly capitalising the word ‘e-book’ is a nightmare for editors with OCD
* Because you look smarter when reading War and Peace if everyone can see the size of the book and its title
* Because you can re-sell a book
* Because they allow you to keep a private library in your home
* Because the best way to learn about someone is to look at his bookshelves
* Because when left lying on end tables they afford topics for otherwise flagging conversation
* Because people are more willing to lend a book than their e-reader
* Because they do not emit bright lights which keep other people awake at night
* Because you won’t waste time playing games on them (unless it’s tic-tac-toe)
* Because they smell so pleasant, especially when old
* Because they give you a reason to buy beautiful bookshelves