Best Book Type 2021 – Lets Discuss

This article focuses on the best book type in 2021. Here we are going to do an analysis on what is the best way of reading books. Technology has blessed us with the option of AudioBook and E-books along with Paperback traditional books. We discussed in last article why reading is important? Honestly, there is no 1 pick and there is no right answer. All options have their pros and cons (mostly pros). Let’s dive in to find best book type.

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Ebooks – Are these best book type?

What are E-books?

An E-Book is an electronic version of a traditional print book that can be read by using a personal computer or by using an eBook reader. 

Advantages of E-Books

E-books are an increasingly popular option for consuming information.

• Availability: In digital form, e-books are never unavailable or out of stock. They don’t go out of print.

Simply purchase and download your books from anywhere with a Wi-Fi signal.

• Read on Multiple Devices: Once you download your e-book, you can copy it across different devices. You can also use one of many cloud storage options.

In other words, it’s almost impossible to lose an e-book. Even if you lose or break your device, you can re-download your book from cloud storage.

• Storage: Storage is another driving reason why e-books win out over traditional print versions…

If you have a substantial library, it takes up a great deal of room. You’ll need at least one bookshelf and possibly many of them depending on the size of your collection.

With e-books, you can carry a whole library’s worth on one SD card that can be stored in a mobile device like a cell phone.

This is to say nothing of moving or transporting them…

Traditional books are large and heavy. They require the use of a book bag or cart to move them from place to place.

• Format: Another incredible advantage digital books have is the actual format itself…

E-books can include much more in terms of the type of media involved. If you learn a lot from watching videos or hearing speeches or lectures, e-books are a smart choice.

• Visual Aids: For visual learners, videos and aids like graphs or charts are another strong benefits offered by eBooks.

The functionality extends way beyond plain text. If your goal is simply the retention and absorption of information, e-books can provide this in spades.

• Search: E-books have another incredible feature that traditional paperback or hardcover books do not have. The ability to search through the whole book or possibly your entire library in seconds. This alone puts e-books in pole position for students and voracious readers in a hurry.

How many times have you flipped through a book, looking at every page and spending lots of time just to find one quick answer?

This, of course, is a thing of the past if you’re dealing with an electronic book.

Search features like this are especially handy for students because they’re usually reading a work many times and backtracking repeatedly to make and create things like outlines and notes from the book.

Studying is a more intense exercise than only scanning through a book in your spare time, and having search features makes completing homework or writing an outline that much easier.

It’s also simpler to bookmark pages, highlight important passages and write inside an eBook without damaging it.

• Cost: Electronic books are much more affordable than traditional printed media. This becomes extremely important when you’re talking about people studying at university where most undergraduates spend around a thousand dollars on books.

If you sidestep the traditional option and instead decide to download e-books, you’ll need a tablet or laptop but it’s possible to recoup that investment with the money saved buying books. There are subscription-based services that allow you to look at e-books for a limited time at a reduced cost.

There are many e-books posted online in their entireties for free. This represents tremendous potential savings for students on limited budgets.

Shipping charges for e-books are ultra-low. It costs a company almost nothing to store the text on a server, and downloading an e-book from a server doesn’t cost either party very much money at all.

You’re obviously not paying for the paper and the charges associated with using a printing press or the whole bookbinding process either.

• Eco-Friendly E-Books: Finally, e-books are good for the environment. Not only is there no need for toxic inks and large presses or bookbinding machines, but e-books also save energy in non-existent transportation and packaging costs.

You can make an endless amount of copies of an e-book, and you’re not killing any trees by buying one!

Disadvantages of E-Books

• Not- Budget Friendly: Though with technology now e-books can be read on mobile also but a dedicated device like Kindle is costly.
• Many people still prefer being able to hold a traditional book in their hands. For those of us who enjoy reading a book in bed before signing off for the night, a cold hard digital device just won’t be the same.
• Adds on to screen time: While one advantage of ebook devices is their ability to enlarge fonts for easier reading, the fact is you are still reading off an LCD screen. Some readers have matte e-ink screens, but others give off a glare that can not only make reading inconvenient if the lighting isn’t just right, but may actually cause eye strain and make it more difficult to focus while reading.
• Not having a book library is heartbreaking: For those who prefer to have a reading room or a corner or even a dedicated room for books. E-books take away that pleasure.

Though there are far more advantages than disadvantages, so everyone must opt for E-book but before arriving at conclusion let’s analyze my favorite audiobooks.

Audiobooks – Is this best book type?

Audiobooks are so successful because they offer an alternative way to consume information for those who may be visually impaired or have other accessibility issues and offers a break to those who constantly put a strain on their eyes throughout the day. By consuming more content via audiobooks, you put less strain on your other senses and give your mind a chance to relax. It’s safe to say that the benefits of audiobooks can only enhance certain aspects of your lifestyle.

Here are some of the key benefits of listening to audiobooks:

• It improves pronunciation and fluency: Listening to audiobooks improves your reading and speaking accuracy and fluency. While the narrator(s) narrates the book, you can notice and learn the way he/she is pronouncing different words.

Not only that, but you can also notice his reading speed, his pauses, stresses, and intonations, which are very crucial in having a good fluency and command over any language.

• Helps to improve time management: One of the most notable benefits of audiobooks is that you can save a good amount of time by multitasking. You can continue listening to your audiobook if the other tasks do not require much of your attention.

Many people love listening to audiobooks in the gym, or while going for a walk, or while carrying out other daily commutes be it driving, cooking, cleaning, or even bathing.

• Builds Critical Listening skills: Critical listening involves analysis, critical thinking, and judgment. Listening to audiobooks is a great way of building your critical listening skills.

Analyzing different complications in the plots of the story and trying to make certain judgments based on your analysis helps you enhance these skills.

• It improves focus and attention span: While listening to an audiobook, you need to pay attention to what the narrator is trying to convey to you. And you will have to maintain that attention throughout the narration.

It is very easy to get lost once you are distracted while listening to audiobooks. And unlike reading books, you will find it difficult in going back and re-listening it again. So it is important that you are focused and you don’t let yourself distract.

• It improves memory: There are a lot of things that you need to remember while listening to an audiobook. Name of the characters and their features, name of the places, plots, and sub-plots, the sequence of events, important conversations, etc. are some of the key information you need to keep in mind while listening to fiction.

The ability to retain this information keeps improving with the number of audiobooks you listen to. And as your brain learns to remember the information from the storyline, it also becomes better at remembering other things of your life.

• Builds critical thinking and improves comprehension skills: While listening to an audiobook, a lot of information is being processed in our brain simultaneously. It opens up many different perspectives for your brain to comprehend.

If you are listening to a mystery or suspense book, your brain constantly tries to speculate certain outcomes and events. It also has to relate one event to the other to make sense in the story. All this, in turn, sharpens your mind and enhances your critical and analytical thinking skills.

• You get an interesting and lively experience of the story: The personality of the narrator(s) can really enhance the flow and feel of the story. They help us create mental pictures of situations and characters and also help in understanding the plot’s emotions better.

Narrator(s) are very enthusiastic and they bring the story to life with voice inflections, humor, mystery, and varied cadence. And all this makes the story an interesting, lively, and fun experience for the listeners!

• Audiobooks are highly beneficial for people with visual impairments: Audiobooks are a blessing for people with visual impairments and other reading disorders such as dyslexia, hyperlexia, etc. In recent years, audiobooks have contributed immensely to the literacy development among differently-abled individuals.

• It helps develop empathy: Another important benefit of audiobooks is that they help you to become more empathic. Being empathic means being able to understand and share the feelings of others.

Narrators of the audiobooks help you connect with the characters and plots of the story. You yourself become a part of the book and feel what the characters are supposed to feel. The lively narration by the narrator makes you understand the pain and grievances of the characters.

• It boosts our mental health: Listening to good audiobooks can boost our mental health. Just like reading books, listening to audiobooks can also reduce stress and calm our minds.

Many people listen to soothing audiobooks before going to bed. This helps them fall asleep and also improves sleep quality. Which again is a huge factor for improving and maintaining our mental health.

There are actually no disadvantages of audiobook but just psychological biases like the below 2 reasons:

• Many people still prefer being able to hold a traditional book in their hands. For those of us who enjoy reading a book in bed before signing off for the night, listening is a different experience 
• Not having a book library is heartbreaking: For those who prefer to have a reading room or a corner or even a dedicated room for books. Audiobooks take away that pleasure.

What I prefer?

So, what is the best book type? You found your pick?

I am an old-school person I love physical paperback books but then also Audiobooks is my first choice. I have been covering 2 books per month since I have downloaded Audible. They give a book free every month with a subscription.

In the morning during work out and home chores, I listen to audiobooks.

Paperback books are my pre-sleep ritual.

And on vacation, I move to E-books for relaxing purposes.

You can have your own favorites. I earlier mentioned also after my audible 5AM club experience I started getting up early.

There is no right or wrong. Reading (listening) is important. Or let us say learning is important.

We hope you’ve found this article useful and you are one step closer to your building and sustaining reading habits! You can only learn from it and discover new things about yourself.

If you have any ideas or suggestions on what we should add to this article. Please let us know in the comment below. We highly appreciate any feedback, negative and positive 🙂