I thought I was against online textbooks (and online journals, and ereaders by extension), much like I thought I was against Twitter before I was forced to delve deeper into the issue.

Like tweeting, I found a while ago that digital textbooks offer a vast new experience that I had never really considered before because I was so set in my ways. It was a lot like taking the training wheels off your bike or trying sushi for the first time–suspect at first, before you began to wonder how you’d ever lived before the revelation of two wheels, raw fish and text searches.

In Anne Eisenberg’s “Making Science Leap From The Page,”  the jump to the digital realm is a chance for scholarly texts to add some “pizzazz” to their pages, and the interactive elements introduced in the online college textbook introduced in the article, “Principles of Biology,” creates a more fluid version of static textbooks– both traditional printed ones and less-than-inspired digital copies. It introduces the concept of an interactive learning experience–closer to a video game learning model or the online media that has become more prevalent in the last decade. A more interactive, attuned form of learning tool that could (and should) see rise in the near future.

The pros and cons of textbooks vs. ebooks could be argued for days. The infographic side-by-side comparison of ebooks vs. printed books outlines the differences between the two formats, although it  leans heavily in favor of electronic textbooks, noting the cons of printed textbooks while almost entirely ignoring potential pros, including lessened eyestrain and  the costliness of many tablets on the market.