I was reading an online discussion this morning on the e-book as a replacement for a “real” book, which in itself is a topic which in itself is becoming a little tiresome. However, what has sent me off on a slight tangent is in response to a backpacker who suggested that the potential to carry a smaller device which can hold a huge amount of books within it, as opposed to filling your backpack with burdensome books is what winds him over. Others then replied to his post in agreement that carrying around books when travelling is just problematic.
Where I would like to take this though, is not down the road of e-books versus traditional books, but rather; to what degree do electronic devices take away from the experience of backpacking?
Leaving digital cameras out of this for the sake of staying on track, is the ease of access delivered by e-books not taking away a certain experience henceforth lost to the e-book backpacker? The search for book shops in small towns after nauseating bus rides, the thrill of finding one and the chance to read a book you never knew existed; I live for these moments on the road. You might need to stock up for the times between book shops, sure, but it makes those precious paper worlds in your pack that much more meaningful. Not to mention the flipside being that you are less paranoid about them being stolen!
Socially they allow for greater interaction on the road with the possibility of exchange, of which is far more personal when using real items. Too many books for your backpack? Think charitably and give some away. Take out some clothes, you’re meant to be a little dirty on the road.
Finally and for me more importantly, is the fact you leave yourself open to discovering new and exciting tomes which you might never have found if not purely by that chance discovery in an unexpected cafe and bookstore in Laos, or in that backpacker hostel social room in Cambodia. My bookshelves still hold a couple I could not help but shove into my pack and carry all the way home.
Favourites:
A Fortune Teller Told Me, by Tiziano Terzani.
Mama Tina, by Christina Noble.
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| A Book On The Train, Thailand. 2007. |
Anyone else got books they couldn’t leave behind?
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| Langkawi 2007 |
Yes! So true. There is also the day dreaming out the bus window wondering who may have owned the book before you. Great blog!
ReplyDeleteTotally! Also, imagining all the places the book has travelled. You can leave little clues in there like a train or bus ticket for the next traveller.
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