Go Buy an E-reader (Not You, Hailey)
I have a dear, sweet* young friend named Hailey who loves books. She loves old books and new ones. She loves the smell of them, the crackle of spines, the sound of each page as it turns. She loves the weight of a book in her hand and the way they look, lined up on shelves. (*And please understand, I don’t mean “dear” or “sweet” in a condescending way. She’s as dear to me as a niece and anyone who knows her can attest to her sweetness.) But Hailey’s love of paper books is a jealous love. She is adamantly opposed to digital books and e-readers. She goes so far as to smile at the thought of EMPs leading to a dystopic future where we are all sadly in possession of worthless gadgets, while she is still the proud owner of a prized library. So when I decided to write about e-books, Hailey came to mind. And if you’re thinking that conceding to her viewpoint before even beginning to express my own is a lousy way to arrange things, you’r...