At first, I didn’t see eye-to-eye with eBooks. When Waterstones started stocking the Kindle in their stores, it sat mounted on a bright corner display like the unwelcome elephant in the room. To deprive oneself of that musty ‘new-book’ smell and the joy of leafing through page after page seemed unthinkable. Seeing new thoughts and inspirations sandwiched between a front and back cover was precious. In my mind, eBooks were nothing more than a cold technological intrusion tearing its way through an innocent world of literature.
My opinion changed after a spot of bother familiar to most students. Thanks to the madness of Freshers Week and generally ‘settling in’ to the new term, I’d forgotten to buy an obscure title for my class, and it was marked as compulsory. As the department had failed to forward this requirement to Blackwells at the Union, we’d both slipped up in truth. Despite this, I needed a solution, fast. Browsing through endless online bookstores in the early hours of the morning, I searched desperately for places with my book in stock, followed by delivery times and costs. It was to no avail and crisis point was dawning. Suddenly, the radiant ‘Kindle Edition’ button on the Amazon page caught my attention. I clung on to my doubts, but this was a state of emergency. Could I submit to the eBook, just this once?
Reader, I downloaded it. And my virtual library has been growing ever since. The Kindle app on my iPad is now host to a hefty selection of customisable books. At a fingertip is the power to alter font, line spacing and background. If you have a learning problem like me, this feature is akin to discovering the Holy Grail. Furthermore, a percentage of how much you’ve read in the corner of the screen is perfect for any student pushing through some non-optional reading. I’ve never been a fan of heavy hardbacks, but this fully transportable bookshelf weighs nothing. And, above all, the price of my reading list is over half what is used to be.
Like a cheater in the passions of a love affair, there’s been moments of guilt. I revisit happy memories of afternoons browsing the second-hand bookshops that line Charing Cross. However, you can’t fault the convenience of Kindle, especially in an educational environment. Books will always hold a special place in my heart, particularly the ones from childhood that still line my bookshelves back home. But for now, I’m fully converted to the eBook.