I’m not a big book reader per se. I had several books while growing up mostly Goosebumps and Steven King (yes, I was a dark kid). This was a bit odd to me as we had a study in the home I grew up in, but it contained mostly economic, psychology, and legal books, no literary classics, no fiction.

While in high school I wanted to get better at a craft and one of the ways I learn was through books. But as a teen, I did not have the means to buy books so I used the library and then to some extent, the internet. I spent a lot of time in the library reading about architecture, psychoacoustics, sound waves, basic electrical engineering.

I remember staying up late reading more and more in this medium, the web. Being able to read excerpt of books was great and sharing information on bulletin boards. It was fascinating but at times I wanted it to be more portable, able to take it with in a digital way, without printing it out.

A few years later I moved to New York and I was unable to take all my possession with me. Some of them were thrown out (by my parents). While living in NY I accumulated a few books and once again, some were lost in the move back to LA.

After a few years back I wanted to have a more simple, minimalist lifestyle so I started replacing books with ebooks. Yes, I understand that they are not same blah blah blah… but for me this is great. In the past year alone, I’ve read over 20 books that were not for educational purposes. I was able to switch reading a book between my iPad and my iPhone. I was able to carry my entire book collection if I wanted, right there on small device.

I was able to highlight important passages, I was able to define words within the page I was reading. I was able to google and explore more about a subject within the book without moving from the device.

Many people romanticize the experience of reading a printed book, but I just don’t get it.

When I start reading, the form of the book quickly disappears. Just as I don’t notice the letters in each word, I stop noticing the layout, the font, the paper, the binding, and every other physical artifact because I’m focused on the writing.

I don’t care if it was a printed book or if it was an ebook, as long as I read it, and it was good. While there are a few books that I will keep in my personal collection, like Don Quixote, I am content having most books on my iPad.