Why Physical Books are Better Than Ebooks
The 5 Senses Graph
I recently watched a Ted Talk by a man named Jinsop Lee. He developed something that he calls The 5 Senses Graph. You can take a look at the Ted Talk and the 5 Senses Graph below:
His talk begins with trying to answer the question of “Why is sex so good?”, and he correlates it with sex’s ability to score high on all points of the graph.
Strangely enough, this lead me to thinking about the piles of paperback and hardback books that I have in my office. Why wouldn’t I simply download all of the ebook equivalents and give away/sell all of my actual copies? That would make logical sense right? Not only would I free up space in my office, but I would also make a few bucks.
See, I have an unusal attachment to those books in my office. I like how they look, all lumped up in piles. I like how the pages smell when I thumb through them. I like how the pages feel.
I think physical books will always be superior to their ebook counterparts for this reason — our 5 senses.
Piggy backing on this idea, I started to think about design, and how important design is to the reading experience. Not only will a great design help you sell more of your book, but it will also heighten the actual experience of reading. When we are holding a book or looking at one that has a great design, inside and out, our mind associates that thing with a good feeling. Good Design = Good Feelings. To me, this is best seen in nature.
So there is my case. Physical books > Ebooks.
What do you think?
Cheers
Jarod Dickson
