IELTS TASK 2: printed books or e-books

Topic essay: Some people think that printed book is no longer necessary in this digital era as all writings can be stored electronically. Others think that printed books still play important roles. Discuss both these views and give your own opinion.

In the digital revolution, with the advance of phones and tablets, e-books have become a popular reading tendency. Still, there’s something about the feel of an old-fashioned paper book. In fact, people differ greatly in their views as to whether or not the printed books would be superseded by the e-books. I personally think that the traditional paper books will be still of necessity, but the digital books will have advantageous more in some cases.

No doubt that the physical books could actually give people a feel to what they are reading. The feel, which simply is the sense of ownership or even the unique smell of the pages, is seen as a motivation encouraging people to read and think in-depth. To be more specific, if a reader holds a paper book, they easily can note, draw, highlight, mark, remind and so on. Thus, the book could become easier to understand and remember. In addition, this visualization and summarization of content also enhance re-reading of the reader to acquire more deeply knowledge. However, the printed books have some cons, such as it is bulky to carry around-loss of mobility, less economical and susceptible to environmental damage due to paper production.

The aforementioned disadvantages of traditional books are the advantages of e-books. The most salient merit of this is conveniently accessible for the user. E-readers now can be read practically anywhere on anything. Particularly, the digital books provide an excellent opportunity to access more knowledge for more people thanks significantly cheaper than the paper books. To exemplify this point, I live in Vietnam, the bookstores here have a very small English language selection, and it's not enough to satisfy my reading needs. When e-books appeared, that have meant no postage, no heavy suitcases full of books, no waiting 4-5 weeks for books from Amazon, or lost books.

Overall, my stance is that printed books and e-books are not mutually exclusive. Books in whatever format a person uses are invaluable tools for learning, passing on knowledge and philosophies, and entertainment. As long as we get to read, that's a win.