I have written about this off and on over the years, but I don’t know if I have shared on the issue of print or digital here recently. I have been an early user of e-books since I got my first e-book.It was on a palm pilot, and it was Thomas Friedman’s “The World is Flat.” It was at that moment I discovered that I could read hands free. I didn’t have to hold it open.

Over the years I have adopted e-books because paper books were heavy and cumbersome. Yet sometimes I read paper books if I cannot get the book in question digitally.

Fast forward to doing research in a pandemic. I got a book from my local public library in March. I began to freak out about whether it was carrying germs. I bought an e-book of the same title from Amazon.

I have once again revisited the power of hands free. E-books are also available to do text to speech.They can be enlarged and manipulated, which makes them available to people with visual impairment. There are a wide range of material available.

It’s important to acknowledge that print is useful. We are at a moment that many people treasure books. Please enjoy It’s a book. It does not require power, and it’s easy to share.

I need to continue to read print books occasionally. Unfortunately there are still books that are being produced that only available in print. I find myself wondering when this will stop. When I do my next book proposal, I have selected a publisher that offers printed books, but also makes the content available digitally for free. Pacific University Press

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