Technology these days are growing and expanding, turning into complex, easy-to-use devices. Some welcome this new age with arms wide open, under the sunlight and some prefer to reside within the past. The iPad serves as an easily portable laptop, and the iPhone/iTouch serves as a phone, musicator (a musical device, if you please), and a laptop. Astonishing, isn’t it?

Among those sorts of technology, the human race finds itself in the hands of these nifty little things called Kindle. This product is created especially for book lovers of all ages who have no problem buying cheap electronic books over the real thing. However, those who intend to hold freshly printed books, complete with a beautiful jacket cover, and topped off with that new-book smell, are furiously trying to keep the age of real books alive and shun the Kindle.

Oh, the benefits of owning a Kindle are endless, and yet I still run out of reasons. The Kindle allows people to get books faster, and at half the price than they would be in stores – preferable for those who like to cuddle up on a couch all day with their new leopard printed Snuggie. Also, depending on the type of Kindle the buyer gets, internet access is, well, accessible. Along with 3G – and no, not three grand. Color is also optional. If $200 doesn’t scare you off.

But with the uprising of the Kindle comes the downfall of bookstores. Borders has, sadly, been shut down, as everyone should know by now – be ashamed if you didn’t – and all that’s left standing, of the big book sellers, is Barnes & Noble. Terribly expensive, but terribly worth it. Around Encinitas, B&N is the only available bookstore, so, take a picture before they become extinct.

With paper books comes that smell of grand old pages, whispers of hidden secrets, and the aroma of freshly printed ink that make you want to smother your face into the book’s crevice, and inhale deeply, and then rinse and repeat. Some people actually enjoy that haunting aroma, whereas, with a Kindle, smashing your face into it is probably not the best thing to do.                                                              

The weight of a book in your hands, like holding a whole new world in your palm, is unlike any other feeling. Pages and pages of another one’s thoughts and dreams and different realities. And who wants to read a book that doesn’t have a jacket cover? Part of what pulls the reader in is the design on the front.

Alas, every great product has its dark side. While the Kindle may be small, portable, and easy to use, it is also very degrading to actual books by the fact that it’s better somehow. Probably years from now, kids will ask what it was like having a paper book, and that is just plain sad.