Why Kindles and Nooks Should Replace Textbooks

Photo Courtney Boyd Myers via Wikipedia
So Rachel has been reading the Hunger Games trilogy, partly on her Kindle Fire, partly in hardback (yeah, I kinda already talked a little about that).  I was asking her about why she wanted the hardbacks and it was mostly for taking to places where the Kindle isn't so convenient.  Sometimes she can't use it at school, for example, and sometimes a book is just less hassle (not so breakable, for example, and doesn't need recharged).
But, she said, she really liked it (EDIT -duh) on the Kindle because anytime there was a word she didn't know she just had to touch it and the definition popped up.

Really?

Okay - I've been all about actual, physical books for, like, ever.  But I'm completely sold on ebooks now.  ESPECIALLY for textbooks.  I can think of all kind of reasons why they're better:


  • weight: my kids, especially Rachel, carry sometimes 30 lbs of books home from school
  • memory issues: ever forget your book at school?  Doesn't happen with e-reader apps for the home computer -and the tablet, right?  No more "I didn't do my homework because I left my book at school."
  • hyperlink: the aforementioned linking of definitions to words is the tip of the iceberg - think about how you can link all kind of information - within the book and online - the danger is that it's unlimited...how DO you limit it?
  • easy update: you need to update the history textbooks (say, you discover that the book says the War of 1612, instead of the War of 1812, if it covers wars...wait, that's a different post), or when you want to get the newest edition - heck, a new update every year? no storage/disposal problem AND
  • cost: ebooks are ridiculously cheap to produce* in comparison to traditional textbooks - no printing, warehousing or shipping costs...


Seriously, Apple was trying to get into the textbook arena when Steve Jobs died in an effort to make textbooks affordable**, interactive or maybe even free.  And they're still working on it, I think.  I haven't really been following that whole thing - I'm just more completely convinced that ebooks are the way to go for schools.

What do you think?  Tell me I'm wrong... or I'm right...











*sadly, this is probably one of the reasons they WON'T be replacing traditional textbooks in the near future - it's a pretty monolithic industry and pretty, ahem, old-school...


**No, the irony is not lost on me...

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