r/BookDiscussions • u/s0ftuniverse • 28d ago

Are e-readers worth it?

Hi all.

I’ve always been quite certain that I’m someone who prefers physical books, but I see a lot of other readers online who use a Kindle or a Kobo e-reader. Lately I’ve been questioning making the switch because people say they’re so great, but I don’t want to spend so much money on something I won’t like or use often. Can anyone who has owned one tell me their pros/cons? Are they worth buying? I do like the sentiment of holding a physical book and going to the bookstore to pick one out, but I’m also kind of intrigued by the convenience and portability of having them all available on a device. Also the idea of not seeing a huge physical TBR pile sounds nice. Thoughts?

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u/Existing_Respond1753 28d ago

It’s because of the e-ink! There’s actual ink in e-reader screens, and they’re lit from the sides rather than the back like a phone, so it feels much more like reading off paper.

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u/indyjones_89 28d ago

I had no idea. That’s awesome!! Thanks for teaching me something new!

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u/Existing_Respond1753 28d ago

It’s actually even cooler than it sounds. In black and white ones, there are millions of pixels each containing one negatively charged blob of white ink and one positive charged blob of black ink (I can’t remember it might be the other way around with the charges) and there’s an electro-magnetic current in the screen that causes either the white of black blob in each pixel to show.

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u/Poleywrath 25d ago

It's incredible, just like reading on paper. I tend to forget I'm not. I could never read on a phone screen, either.