Response Blog to Boston College Post

As a user of e-book myself, I find it to be somewhat more useful and still somewhat detrimental to textbook studying. As computers are more commonplace and easily accessible, I find the idea of getting a textbook on a school subject easier to get online. Its effectively cheaper, sometimes free if you know where to look, and you can view it anytime your online, which arguably more people spend their time whenever possible. And for the most part in college classes, the books given that you need to buy aren't even used often in the classroom. I have taken about ten courses so far in my time here at the AI, and none of my classes except one has used the book more then a two or three times. The only exception is my Comparative Religion class, and even then reading is entirely up to you as it is usually assigned for homework. Electronic books is far more cost effective as you can get the book and only reference it when you need something to look up or when an assignment is given that requires its use. Still, I cannot deny the usefulness in owning a hard copy, having used a textbook for one class or another for most of my academic life, I still find it relaxing and somewhat easier to read from a textbook while writing and highlighting notes.

Still, in the long run, I feel that textbooks will continue to exist for a great many more years, but sooner or later, they too will be replaced with online books, much as everything else is or has been replaced by the convenience of the computer and the Internet.