Paper books, ebooks, or audiobooks?
Do you enjoy reading books? What’s your preferred format—paper books, ebooks, or audiobooks? I personally favor paper books. I appreciate that I can annotate them and don’t need to rely on electricity or batteries. Imagine being in the middle of nowhere, even during a zombie apocalypse—I’d still be reading comfortably!
My reading habits vary by genre. For fiction, I tend to choose ebooks and audiobooks, while for non-fiction, I prefer paper books but also listen to some audiobooks.
Listening to books is undoubtedly convenient, yet I find it the least engaging method. I remember content better when I read from paper or screens. Moreover, taking notes from an audiobook while driving or walking is impractical and unsafe.
Despite preferring digital formats for fiction due to convenience, I occasionally buy paper books. It’s simply easier to keep track of what I’ve read with a physical shelf to browse through. I use Kindle for most ebooks, but I also download PDFs and purchase books in other formats. It’s challenging for me to remember what I’ve bought in digital form. This happened a few months ago, when I repurchased books I already owned in audio format, “Before the Coffee Gets Cold” by Toshikazu Kawaguchi and “1984” by George Orwell. I ended up reading them instead of listening to them, both excellent books. Before the Coffee Gets Cold is a beautiful set of short stories all happening within the same coffee shop – read it and thank me later. 1984 is probably known by most people.
As a non-native English speaker, I also find reading paper books especially beneficial. While listening, I’m unlikely to pause and look up new words, but I do when reading. Discovering new vocabulary and incorporating it into my writing helps solidify my learning.
Regardless of format, I’ll continue to indulge in my love for books. Choosing the right format can be trivial but delightful. The more I read the more I want to write, so I’d continue to do both for as long as possible.
I’ll continue enjoying books in any format and will keep struggling to decide which format to use—it’s a first-world problem for sure. But the more I read, the more inspired I am to read and write. As long as I can, I’ll continue to embrace both reading and listening to books.
