Unfortunately, I am extremely torn on the whole Textbooks v. iBooks v. E-Books discussion. Why, because I have never had an opportunity to interact with an iBook or E-Book and because I am completely biased toward history books. The article, Apple and the Digital Textbook Counter-Revolution by Waters and the infographic by Kunzler provided me with a ton of information.
Waters was very opinionated when discussing the digital textbooks. However he raised some great points. One point that stood out the most to me was the price. Waters claims, “ There’s no word that this price will actually stick.” Which I agree with. The most appealing thing about iBooks and E-Book is the fact that you don’t have to spend hundreds and hundreds on books. A nice price of $14.99 seems great but you never know, the publishers could easily raise the price on the textbooks and I can see it happening.
Kunzlers infographic was extremely informative. It wasn’t too biased. I like the fact that it did a whole, “Textbooks vs. eBooks” theme. After reading that it made me kind of like eBooks.
- They are around $14.99 (as of right now)
- They are lightweight
- And you can interact with them — I’m not too sure if this feature would be helpful for me though since I’m a history major. (There is not much to interact with. The facts are in words.)
My overall opinion on this whole textbook war is this. I don’t know. I really don’t. Yes, eBooks, iBooks sound great and I am sure they are. Yes, you can highlight or takes notes with them but when it comes to my textbooks for history. I’d prefer to just have it. Yes, they are heavy and yes, they are p.ain with minimal pictures (at least the ones I have are.) But I like it that way. I can easily highlight in my textbooks, scribble whatever I want, draw lines, make connections, sticky note it, and throw some note cards on certain pages. Here comes the weird part…. I have a weird attachment to my history books. I wouldn’t feel like a “historian” if I didn’t have my books. I enjoy having a book shelf filled with these books.
As a student aspiring to be a history professor, I can’t just give up on my books. Casual reading for leisure, yes I’ll go digital. History not a chance. I am positive that iBooks, eBooks are great though but they wouldn’t benefit me other than the fact that I wouldn’t have to carry them.
And trust me I am absolutely obsessed with technology. I think its awesome! But when dealing with these digital textbooks for history…I’m not for it…unless I’m like one day forced to do it *cough cough* Encyclopaedia Britannica..
