Submitted: The Two Sides Team October 7, 2015

E-books have certainly seen better days, back when some predicted they would overtake print books, but now the latest figures tell a different story

While analysts once predicted that e-books would overtake print by 2015, digital sales have instead slowed sharply. A recent article in The New York Times reported that in the first five months of this year, e-books fell 10% year-over-year, according to the most recent data released by the Association of American Publishers. Meanwhile, print books fell by a much slower 2.3%. Considering that e-books make up roughly 20% of the market, their decline suggests the resilience of print books. Independent bookstores are also making a comeback, as there are 1,712 member stores in the American Bookseller Association this year—that’s 302 more than in 2010.

Please follow the link to read the full article in The New York Times.

I much prefer to read print books over e-books.  After a day spent working at a computer, the last thing I want to do to read a book on a screen.  And how do you bookswap with an e-book?  I'm just one of many print book lovers as evidenced by recent articles in Huffington Post and Aeon.

Huffington Post's article, Drop That Kindle! 10 Reasons Print Books Are Better Than E-Books is full of great explanations about why readers continue to love print books including the facts that print books are great to share, and they're physical reminders of your intellectual journeys.

Craig Mod's essay, Stagnant and dull, can digital books ever replace print? notes that digital books stagnate in closed, dull systems, while printed books are shareable, lovely and enduring.  Couldn't have said it better myself!

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