What would you rather? Carrying a heavy backpack to school every day loaded with textbooks, or throwing all those textbooks away and letting technology take over, ebook style? I know what my choice would be. I'd opt for the textbooks. Why? Because my textbook doesn't run on batteries, is less likely to be stolen and is less likely to get damaged and be unrepairable. Seriously though, why would I want to sit and read off a screen all day long when I can sit and read from a textbook? Yeah, it may be convenient to have it all in one small place, but if you lose your ebook reader thingy, you lose ALL your textbooks and then you have to buy them again. http://www.theage.com.au/national/students-to-dump-textbooks-for-ebooks-20090815-elsu.html Is the article anyways. I just thought it would be an interesting read for everyone. Technology is going to take over no matter what, because man is lazy and always looking for the easier (lazier) way. Reminds me of a children's cartoon called 'Lazy Lucy'.
i detest those e-book thingies there's no sensory experience involved with it at all. i love the smell of the pages of really old library books, and the crisp white uncreased pages of new ones. lying in bed unable to sleep in the middle of the night wouldn't be half as much fun with a tiny computer screen than an actual book. are people really so lazy they can't carry a book or two with them anymore?
I would have to go with textbooks. Having everything contained in one tiny piece of technology may be convenient and better for your back, but I like hard copies. I like reading from a real book, highlighting real sentences, making notes in real margins... Besides, when I was in college, lugging two backpacks full of books all over campus with me was what helped keep me fit.
Not a few months ago I would have said nay to the e-book. I've since changed my mind. I read my e-books on an iPod Touch, and honestly, I love it. The convenience factor is very high. I know many people might say that the screen for an iPod Touch is too small, but for me it works just fine. You can change the font size to suit you needs. I have well over a dozen e-books on my iPod Touch at the moment, and given that I can be fickle in mood as to what I wish to read, again it is a win since I have cause to be at medical appointments rather often. Where I live, medical appointments are given only a date, never a time, and you may well have to wait two or three hours. As for the loss of the the device. I am a careful person. I take good care of my things. I've had my iPod Touch for almost a year now and not one scratch on any portion because I bought a protective shell and always keep the glass screen covered with an invisible transparent stick-on shield. Not. One. Scratch.
No to ebooks. I like to be able to sell my books back. Though I hate teachers that want to bring the book to class!
I can't imagine any way for textbooks to become obsolete through the use of ebooks. I do wish textbooks were also available online to anyone who bought the book, so that way you could have a back up in case your textbook were lost.
What college do you attend? I only ever managed to sell back books for basic classes. As soon as I was done with math and english, my text books became unsell-back-able. Me ~ "What do you mean I can't sell it back?" Campus Book Store Emp ~ "A new book came out. Sorry."
I sold back textbooks after the first year of college, and regretted it later. I've kept all my school textbooks since, and I even went back and purchased leter editions of a couple of the textbooks I got rid of. It's useful to be able to refer back to them. As for teachers expecting you to bring your book to class - huh? Why wouldn't you? I'd be far more upset if I paid good money for a textbook and it wasn't even used. I could see a teacher NOT wanting you to bring the book to a lecture if tyey wanted you to have read the material first, and concentrate on the lecture during class time, but I've always found it useful to be able to refer back to te reading during class, especially if I have questions about the reading.
Personally I enjoy the tactile feel of a book,and like to highlight and write as others have said, though my opinion might be moot, as I do not really read much anymore since leaving school, and most importantly I have yet to try a kindle or ipod reader as I am poor, haha. On a positive note, I didn't mind hauling books around, made me feel all college-y to do so.
That isn't such a bad idea actually. But getting rid of textbooks altogether, in my opinion, is just ridiculous. Just because the world is evolving into a technology dependent race, does not mean we should be encouraging our children to be so dependent on it for their education. I mean, the scientific calculators you are required to use in schools and university now, do all the work for you. What ever happened to using your brain??? I think we should be discouraging the usage of technology in these ways at schools, and encourage our children to open a book at least once in their lives... I know a lot of people that hate reading, and the only time they actually read any book was when they had to for school, or it was a textbook. I don't think ebooks would be beneficial in schools. I think it is just another money spending waste of time. I can't see how it would be any cheaper than buying the textbooks.
I love ebooks....buuuut, when it comes to school, won't be the same without the good old "heavy" textbooks that I have to lug around on one hand, because my other is broken...yup, it's fun.
NONONONONO. I would LOVE e-books. I have two heavy backpacks I must carry around all day because of my stuff. Having one central little e-book thing would be lovely. That being said, I agree with what Tor said. Just because we're evolving doesn't mean we should go THAT far. As Ray Bradbury said, "You don't have to burn books to destroy a culture. Just get people to stop reading them." I definitely think that actually reading should be WAY more encouraged, and that people should raise their children and re-teach themselves that reading is one of the best things you can do--simple, portable entertainment and learning that doesn't run on batteries.
Selling books back Selling textbooks back only works part of the time because colleges are constantly changing textbooks or editions and they won't buy yours unless they are using it for the next term. I would prefer the ebook solution. It saves space, saves trees, and, best of all, if you no longer need it, you delete it and you don't get stuck with a book nobody wants that you then have to jettison or store. We have been teaching our sons at home for 12 years and several of them have gone on to college during that time along with my wife and myself. There are tons of unused books in our house now that we need to get rid of but nobody wants them. The problem I have with the ebook readers is their lack of support for illustrations. I have written several children's books that my daughter-in-law is working on illustrating. However, I know I will have to market these to traditional publishers (God, help me!) because the current ebook readers don't support graphics.
