Over the years, textbooks are slowly moving towards online books, but where does that leave the lovers of the physical copies of them? As Minarets becomes more and more technically savvy with its new Macbooks, tech-based projects, and more online courses, online books seem like a more natural step in the right direction to becoming fully digital.
There are many people who prefer physical books over the right reasons, the smell of the freshly printed books, the nice crispy opening of the book, and the smooth flips of the page. There are health benefits of reading a physical copy of the books, it reduces stress on the eyes, it helps the reader sleep, and overall improves the mood of yourself in general. The bad thing about physical books are that you cant bring them with you everywhere and that they can easily break and age.
“Physical copies because I enjoy the simple fact of just holding a book and it is easier, if using the book for information, too flip back and find the information in my opinion,” states a fellow student.
However many people do prefer online copies for the right reasons. Online copies may not be as nostalgic as the physical copies but they have many more pro’s than cons. Some of these pro’s are that you can access any book any time on your little smartphone and read it. It is way easier to keep a collection in your phone if you don't want to spend the extra money. The sad thing is that you cannot read them while you doze off if you are a light sleeper because the blue light from the phone will keep you awake.
“I prefer online books because I can read all my books on my phone which I usually always have on my. With online books I am also able to have a very diverse selection that I can pick and choose from whenever I feel like it,” states a fellow student.
In the end we will still use both physical copies and online copies no matter what, both have their pros and cons. We will of course slowly transfer to all online except math homework, that stays paper and pencil.