Argumentative Essay About Books

It was in elementary school that I learned books are people. I know, when we are younger everything is personified, but with books it felt true. Like most elementary school classes, we would make a trip once a week or so to the library. Every year started the same, our class would sit in an antsy circle waiting to be read to or released into the stacks, but the librarian would start with a small lecture about how to treat the books. She would remind us to place books on the shelves with the spine out because not even books wanted their underwear to be showing. Also, be sure to put them right side up so blood doesn’t rush to their heads. Most importantly though, do not hurt them. Never break their spine from opening them too far or let their

It may seem like a trivial issue to most people, but the war between electronic and paper books is a serious one to me. Books have played an important role in my life. They have helped shape me into the person I am today. One of my favorite ways to spend a day is in a disorganized bookstore searching for buried treasure. The literary gold I find tucked away in those bookstores become priceless to me. Every now and then you can open to the inside cover of one of these book and see a note someone penned to another giving the book more history than just the author’s story. There is also the smell and feel of books, as any book lover knows. How would the world be without these small joys? Nothing brought this issue more into focus for me than Border’s going bankrupt. I have seen many smaller used bookstores go under over the years, so seeing this giant fall gave me a glimpse of a future I never want to see. Since then I have made a point of going to my local bookstores for books rather than buying online whenever

It is hard to stand up for less technological ways without looking like you are standing in the way of progress. As early as 5 years ago, I didn’t really know many people who read e-books. Now, I see more and more of my friends going to e-books with textbooks as the only exception. They cite many reasons for preferring e-books. They take up less space. They are faster to buy. They can be their own book light. They are often cheaper, too. One point I often see mentioned as a positive is that e-books can easily be edited for typos and other errors. However, I see that as a potential negative for many countries with stricter censorship. Many people think it is just a matter of time before the e-books win out, but I don’t think it is as simple an issue as that. Paper books have lost a few big battles, but are far from being wiped out. E-books still have many important areas that need improvement. Studies from the University of California and the University of Washington have shown that people are opting for print over e-books because they retain better from printed books. People are also more easily distracted when reading e-books because it’s so easy to quickly get sidetracked by other functions of the device they are reading on. Additionally, many of the devices people read e-books on can be stressful to the eyes. These drawbacks, as well as the nostalgia based ones, will be what keep