The Nora Theory

The debate between Kindles or other e-readers and paper books is one that has at least crossed the mind of every reader since the advent of the Kindle. Kindles are practical and easy, but there is a certain undeniable magic to holding a book in your hands and turning the pages. So which option is better?

I was one of those readers who was adamantly opposed to the Kindle. I clung to the pages of my paper books like a lifeline and collected them with zeal. My fiancé, however, after moving all my boxes of books from one house to the next, and building me several bookshelves, decided that if we continued on this path, we were going to drown in a sea of books. So he bought me a Kindle for my birthday.

Initially, I was apprehensive, but about two hours into owning it, my Kindle became my prized possession. It was so easy to carry with me everywhere, and it was an entire bookstore in the palm of my hand whenever I wanted it. People say technology is a kind of magic, but I never saw that until I had endless access to my favorite thing in the world.

I still have stacks of physical books as my main home decor, but I am attached to my Kindle like another limb. Like anything else, there are pros and cons to the Kindle.

Upsides:

1. The Kindle will save you so much money. After the initial investment, books are much cheaper through the Kindle store compared to physical books.
2. With an e-reader, you will never run out of books to read, if you’re not in the mood for one book another is waiting for you no matter what. You can carry 100 books with you on vacation, and if you finish those, you can get more with a simple touch.
3. Kindle Unlimited is a gift sent straight from the gods. For less than $20 a month, you get unlimited downloads on millions of books. You can keep 20 at a time, but there is no limit on how many you can borrow and return each month. This has saved me, no joke, thousands of dollars.
4. Have you ever been laying in bed, reading a paperback, desperately trying to get comfortable while still being able to turn the page? Not an issue with an e-reader. It’s a more comfortable reading experience allowing a reader to lay on their side or however else with no trouble.
5. The Kindle (or any e-reader) will help you read so much more. Whether it’s financial or just unlimited access to books, or being able to physically flip pages faster, my e-reader almost doubled the amount of books I can read in a year. [link to how I read so much]

Downsides:

1. With paperbacks, you can lend books to friends and share in a way that isn’t possible with an e-reader.
2. Personally, I sometimes miss the feeling of holding a book, of flipping the pages. It’s texture and smell. There is something special about a physical book that the Kindle just can’t replicate.
3. There is no aesthetic of being the mysterious girl in the coffee shop with her head buried in the pages of a book without a physical book.

The Kindle I use is the Paperwhite Signature Edition. I’ve had it for two years, and it has fully paid for itself in that time. The battery life still lasts forever, especially considering how much I use it, and it has never run out of space.

When it comes to which is better, I think it depends on the reader. It is certain, though, that there is space for both Kindles and paper copies in the grand world of books.

Note: some of the links included here are Amazon Affiliate links, which means if you purchase through said links, The Nora Theory gets a cut.