Are books dead? Or is reading?

Many organizations try to say that people are reading less today than in years past because they don't want to have the hassle of carrying around a book. Some people feel that with the rise of e-readers like the Kindle and the Nook that book sales have declined because people are embracing technology. These same people say that print books are dead. There are also people that say that e-readers are part of the technology that is pushing people away from reading; technology fosters shorter attention spans that discourage people from spending time to read a book. There is the constant thought that reading is decreasing and that people don't want to read because they have more entertaining things like the internet in life. 

But what form of reading is "better"? Is reading decreasing? Are we devolving into an illiterate society?

I love books. I have a room in my house where three out of four walls have floor-to-ceiling bookshelves, each shelf filled with books. I have an office with two walls with the same floor-to-ceiling bookshelves. There is a joy that comes with reading a physical book and turning the pages. There's a satisfying feeling that comes with turning the final page of a book and feeling all of the emotions wash over you. When you have certain books that you turn to during tough times in your life, it is comforting to return to them and see the cracked spine and the well-worn pages that hold certain passages that mean something special to you. You can't get these feelings from an e-reader. Books can be signed by an author and held on display, they can have lines underlined, they can have thoughts written into the margins. They can have messages written in before you give it to a friend to read, pointing out your favorite parts of the book so friends can feel you reading along with them. Books are personable. 

Can an e-reader ever replace the feeling emitted from a solid book in your hand? No. They can be convenient and allow a person to carry a library with them anywhere. They make trips to the doctor's office a bit less cumbersome. Instead of having to try and fit a 600+ novel into my bag, I can slip my tiny, almost weightless Kindle into my purse and have access to any book written. I know many people that buy an e-reader with the intention of getting back into reading only to use it for games, internet browsing, social networking and the like. When you have that internet connection, it does make the draw of reading a bit less. Why read a book when you can check facebook, read the news, and look up recipes for dinner? In a way, an e-reader just gives another outlet for people to be distracted and detach themselves from the world. With an e-reader, you can't get as immersed in a book. If you're in public reading on your e-reader, it's easy to turn it off after a few pages and get back to life. There really isn't the sense of "losing yourself" when you're so easily 

And while reports keep saying that reading has decreased, it is important to remember that only a hundred years ago only a small percentage of the population even had the ability to read. Only a few hundred years ago, only the elite had the ability to read. And only the elite could afford books. Now, it is available to everyone. When reading is taught to children as soon as they enter school, we take for-granted that this is not the way life has always been. The fact that most people can read is a very recent development. Reading is a gift that has evolved greatly in the last hundred years. It has gone from something available to only a few to something taught to everyone to something everyone can afford to do to available online and now it is available on the go. 

While e-readers are a great way to try and encourage reading, I don't think anything can beat curling up with a book in hand and reading. E-readers make reading a hobby you can take anywhere and do take the strain out of holding a book the size of a refrigerator a la Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix, they can't bring the personality and memories and fulfillment that a book does. It is also important that even the reading that you are doing now is a new thought. Taking the time to go to a blog or check the news is still reading. Being such a relatively new form of media, many people disregard the reading that is done online. 

Maybe it's just time to reevaluate what we consider to be the best form of reading. While I prefer books to e-readers and the internet, it is an arrogant thought to disregard them as a "valid" form of reading.