Article: Bye bye book

  
If you have not heard about electronic books, you may as well been living in a deserted island. Electronic books (or ebooks, as they are also called) have appeared recently in our lives. First they were simply an advertisement in a computer magazine, but nowadays you see them in stores, in the metro or even in parks.

The electronic book is here to stay, and it offers different advantages. The most important one is the possibility of having a full library in your pocket, without any need of extra space. That characteristic and the possibility to play with the content (change the font and size of the text) are threatening the all-powerful dominance that books have had until know.

But, are books really in danger? Books have been able to survive all different kinds of threats from other media, like music, movies or television. This kind of media delivers highly attractive images and sounds to the user, which entertains  him without the need to use active thinking. The user can just sit down in the sofa, turn on the television and receive an incredible amount of information that goes directly to his brain.

In fact, the difference between passive reception of information and active use of the brain while reading has been the strongest aspects in favout of books. People who like reading books don't really find tv or movies so incredible attracting.

However, the appearance of electronics books is a game-changer, as it will fight books in their own field. Both ebooks and regular books promote active thinking, and therefore differences between them need to be sought in other places. Soon we will know if the smell of a new book or the pleasant sensation of turning pages are enough to hold up against online libreries and downloadable files.

In fact, only one thing is clear: either with paper based or electronic books, the pleasure of reading will always be in our heads.

Words: 324

Interesting sentences and expressions:
Desert / dessert : Desierto / postre
Deserted island : Isla desierta
Threatening: amenazador
All-powerful: todopoderoso
Font: fuente
Threat: amenaza
Sit down: sentarse
game-changer: algo que cambia las reglas del juego
to seek/sought/sought: buscar
pleasant: placentero