In Hard Copy Form

I’ve started a new book–Wolf Hall, by Hilary Mantel. It’s an older book, first published in 2009, but I read some on-line reviews recommending it as a good piece of historical fiction. So far, it’s definitely lived up to the billing.

As I’ve read Wolf Hall, I’ve reflected on just how much I prefer reading an actual paper book to the on-screen version. Such a reaction is somewhat odd when you think about it, because we spend so much of our time staring at a computer screen and tapping a computer keyboard. Computer use is fine for work and doing things like trying to get a lead on what book to read next, because it’s basically inescapable in the modern world–but when it comes to sitting down for some leisure reading, at night or on a weekend, in my view the computer screen is a poor substitute for the printed word in its hard-copy form.

Why is this so? Perhaps it’s because I grew up in the pre-PC age, when if you wanted to read a book you read it in a hardback or paperback, and my brain became wired to prefer that form. Perhaps it’s because reading a physical book seems a lot simpler to me, with the flick of the fingers to turn the page, rather than having to scroll or click. Or maybe it’s because I like the heft and feel of an actual book, and I also like using a bookmark. (My current one is a pamphlet with the menu offerings on Turkish Airlines in 2023, and I like it because seeing it reminds me of our fun trip to Istanbul and Greece last year.)

I know people who do a lot of their leisure reading on the computer screen. I’ve tried it, and it’s just not the right choice for me. For so long as they publish books in paper form–and I hope that is a long, long time–I’ll be a paper guy.