E-Textbooks: Addendum

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A little while ago I posted that e-readers should replace textbooks and gave a few reasons.  Let me summarize...or, rather, quote (from the original post):
  • 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...

THE ADDENDUM:
I was having a conversation with some friends last Sunday.  One of them teaches at an online university and all their textbooks are ebooks now.  Her husband is an administrator at a local school and we were talking about the benefits of etextbooks and I made my pitch (basically the above) but they pointed out that I missed a HUGE benefit to ebooks on an ereader:



  • highlighting and note taking: you can highlight the ebook, take digital notes, do lots of stuff in the digital domain that you simply wouldn't be able to do in a physical book (without having to pay those dreaded end of year fines for the condition of the book - do they still do that?).



How awesome is that?  

I'm even more convinced...



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