Monday, October 14, 2024 | Rabi' ath-thani 10, 1446 H
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EDITOR IN CHIEF- ABDULLAH BIN SALIM AL SHUEILI

Printed books in the digital age

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This is the era of digital entertainment. Everything for our pleasure is readily available at our fingertips. So are digital books. They have transformed our reading taste in far more ways than simply quelling the bedside lamps.


No doubt, with digital books, we can read with ease, as they allow so many things that print books do not. They are convenient, flexible, and cost less than print materials. Not only this, we can carry a whole library of books in our pocket.


Many providers of e-books allow their readers to customise the font size, line spacing, and background colour to make reading more comfortable. Also with browsers, we can easily obtain the answers to our questions.


However, there are still people who find joy in turning the pages of a book. I believe it doesn’t sound like a big claim, but it’s not an exaggeration as well!


For me, like many of my peers, there is something so comforting about a physical book. There is also something different about reading it compared to a screen. It’s much more tactile. Those of us who have been used to reading books cannot be fully satisfied with e-reading.


I say it because I love the feel of a book in my hands and breathing in the musty smell of its well-loved pages! No doubt, the experience of physical connection with books is very personal and real. For many of us who have lived in the time of “paper reading”, tangible books continue to stand relevant.


This doesn’t mean that I am against what is digital. I love it from the bottom of my heart. But reading a book on a device doesn’t give me the feeling that I am beginning the journey of reading. It’s no sentiment, but the pleasure of flipping a page while reading a paperback will be missing on a device.


Nothing can beat the feeling of holding a book, turning the pages with a sip of your coffee, and reading gently by touching the words as if they touch your beautiful mind! After all, you never have to worry about your book running out of battery, unlike an iPad.


Printed books have been around for centuries, and they're still hanging in there, despite the fact that people are constantly trying to replace them with those fancy e-books. When it comes to book collections, they will contribute to our next generation as they will manifest our identity.


I grew up in a remote village in the south Indian state of Kerala, where many teens and youth who did not have any other ways to pass time, found their way to the library. This was the space where many, like me, learned the joy of reading. This was also a place where everyone would gather for discussions and celebrations.


Let me say that time was when libraries were second home to us. They inculcated a reading habit in us. Unfortunately, our society today is drifting away from reading to simply viewing a screen, due to which students are losing creative and analytical abilities.


The only hope for those who love reading books are libraries, which are living spaces, humming with the silence of many readers. And each time, researchers predicted the demise of print books, thankfully, that has not happened yet.


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