The Rise of the Reader

The Amazon "Kindle" and the Barnes & Noble "Nook" are two eReaders forcing a change from the way in which textbooks are traditionally treated in a classroom. For the uninitiated, eReaders are devices that can download books directly onto themselves, allowing the user to create a portable library.

It is a simple fact of college life that textbooks are expensive and cumbersome. Nobody wants to spend hundreds of dollars every semester on books that are barely read for class. Whereas the typical Shakespeare or Chaucer book weighs about as much as a small child, a Nook or a Kindle is smaller than a school folder and weighs less than even the slimmest textbook.

The makers of the eReaders, specifically Amazon, are aware of the endless complaints college students have in regards to traditional textbooks and have created these eReaders partially for them. If a student is able to fit all of his or her novels for an English class onto an eReader, why would he or she want anything different? Digital books are cheaper. Also, any classics of literature that fall into the category of public domain can be found for free digitally.

Though these are high points for the eReaders, they do have problems for a classroom setting. As these devices are not as large as a typical textbook, they cannot offer the same visual clarity and formatting of a larger textbook. Math and science texts, in particular, have not made the transition to digital format gracefully.

Another issue barring eReaders from greater acceptance in a school setting is the mere fact that they are electronic devices. It is understandable that professors do not want devices such as cell phones active during a class session, and many students agree and acquiesce to these rules. Does this mean, though, that eReaders should not be allowed in a class setting just because they are electronic?

MLA and APA styles would assert that it does not matter. Valid citation methods are available for eReaders in scholarly papers. Though these citations are slightly different from the traditional text citations, should they not still be worthy of admission in a classroom?

Amazon's Kindle was struggling with this exact issue, and put out a recent update to the latest generation Kindles that adds actual page numbers to the books. Amazon, before the update, had created a location system within books that, while accurate, was confusing. For example, it was not easy for eReader owners to follow along in class when told to turn to page twenty-four while all the intrepid eReader student had was an arbitrary system of numbers determining book location.

Now, however, actual page numbers are included with eBooks from the Kindle. This makes it easy to follow along in class with an electronic device while other students plod along with archaic books. Though it is never wise to heedlessly adopt new technology for the sake of new technology, it is clear that eReaders are here to stay. The Kindle is Amazon's best-selling item of all time, for example.

So next semester when you are buying your seven-hundred dollar stack of books, consider an alternative that may not only save you money on book bills, but also chiropractor bills later in life.