As the world marches forward to the future, we are definitely losing some pieces of our past. Book sales are dropping almost daily with the prevalence of e-books with no sign of the trend reversing. This looks to be a simple fact of our "progress" but should we be excited, or abhorred at the way things are going?
Questions like these don't have easy answers, but let's explore the question together and we can come to our own conclusions.Paperback books and hardcover books so far have a completely lock on one side of the coin; that they can be shared with friends and neighbors easily. But if we were to fix this issue by allowing for e-books to be "shared" with those around us, would this be the deciding factor?
On the other side, e-books are far more efficient in terms of physical ability to take them world wide. Ever thought of taking a few books on a flight and realized that the space needed and weight they add would be a little ridiculous? E-books are easily transportable on your laptop, smartphone, or electronic book reader allowing you to take a whole library with you on any trip.Another point in the corner of the e-book world is that many times it is possible to buy
discount books online for much cheaper than their paper counterparts. This only makes sense as eliminating the physical form of a book eliminates a huge amount of cost.
But what about the little things that make a book amazing? The touch of the pages, paper that doesn't shoot light in your eyes but lightly reflects the light you add, even the smell of a book; none of these can be replicated in a electronic form.So should we have to choose, or should we just take stock of the goods and bads of all forms of these different ways to store a text? I guess I might be making a rhetorical question, but maybe you have a different opinion.
Let us know! Do you think that the world is still big enough for paperback books, hardcover books, and e-books; or are we moving to a day when buying paperback books online is as "old school" as bell bottoms? 
