Paper books or E-books ?

This video presents the difference between the paper book and the electronic book. Actually, Peter Crawshaw, the director of the best online bookshop in the world and the founder of Lovereading organization, compares the experience of reading from a screen with reading a good old paper book. I believe that nothing can be a substitute for a paper book and this for many reasons. First of all, the book is a wonderful medium for distributing information and almost certainly will continue to be one for a long time. Paper books have a natural place in culture throughout history and have come to represent anything from learning to relaxation. There are some books that date back to 1000 or 2000 years ago. Print books could be offered or received as a symbol of respect, love, or friendship. What would bother you the most, receiving a book or receiving a PDF document in your email?

There is also the factor of health and stress; reading from a screen makes readers’ eyes tired and gives them headaches, but reading a print version does not. Furthermore, there is also this pleasure of looking for a specific book within bookshops and smelling its pages. That pleasure is also related to the colors, designs, shapes, and sizes of books. Personally, I would not be so glorious if my library’s shelves were stacked with Sony Readers, especially ones with dead batteries instead of my usual paper books. Books do furnish a room!

Old Newspapers Get Online Launch

Google, the giant search engine, has taken the initiative in 2006 of digitizing the old newspapers. This means that they decided to convert stories and news from local or national newspapers that date from longtime ago to digital format and began with the Washington Post and New York Times. I think that the simple reproduction of the print edition of newspapers will allow much more access to information and news of the pre- digital age. Actually, the digital age refers to the society that is considered nowadays as an increasingly connected one with the advance of ICTs (Information and Communication Technology). People around the globe have more and more invested in the use of ICTs either in business or at home especially internet. Therefore, Google’s project would help internet users find ancient news on the web from the smallest local weekly paper up to the largest national daily and thus would encourage them to read those stories without encountering difficulties of search and availability. To sum up, the online launching of the old newspapers is an easy and free way to access information and news and therefore get cultivated of what has happened in the world.