If you have been reading this blog for quite some time, you would have known that I hated eBooks. I detested them. Don’t get me wrong, I love to read; softcovers or hardcovers, but ebooks just get me. It feels weird in your hands, it doesn’t look right, it’s uncomfortable, blah blah blah. But yesterday something remarkable happened. We can say the impossible became possible. I read two books, over 500 pages in total… on my iPad. When a software as elegant, efficient, simple, and advanced as Overdrive pops up, it becomes impossible to resist the electronic era. Why carry a stack of books around when you can still have them all, literally on a thin piece of glass weighing less than 1.5 pounds?
I came home two days ago thinking “I totally forgot my book!!!” I didn’t want to go to the library, so I did the only thing I could. I opened up my iPad, slid my finger across my mirror image and tapped on Overdrive. I connected to our local library’s eBooks catalogue and found my book. Then after I plugged in my library card, I tapped open the cover. The experience wasn’t like what I remembered last year, maybe the app updated, maybe I changed No matter, I enjoyed it and found myself drawn to tapping the “Get more books” icon and downloading the next few books in the series.
We, as in our Western 21st century generation are more than cyborgs now. We aren’t dependent on electronics and the internet. Our technologies are what we are made of. We don’t seem to see a difference between our beds, tables, or chairs and our computers, credit card, internet, or cell phones. Both lists are things that we need, things that if taken away will literally completely change our world.
I am not trying to say that anything is bad, just that if credit card companies’ servers were attacked, or if we have a shortage of computer chips, we would be in big trouble. Our minds are wired to rely on technology, I hope by 2012 being “the end of the world”, this is not what it means 🙂 . Anyways, onto my 3rd eBook!!!
Oct 07, 2012 @ 02:25:33
Sorry if I’m being stupid, but what’s overdrive? I’ve downloaded books from the ibook store before. It’s a great reader experience, but what’s putting me off doing it more often is how much more expensive the books are than buying the paper copies!
Oct 08, 2012 @ 11:07:12
That’s the advantage of Overdrive. Simply download the app (whether on iPad or iPhone or Mac or Pc, etc.), then find your local library. Now you can borrow free eBooks and audio books for a 21 day loan (at least in my library). All you need is your library card and a free Adobe license (which the app will direct you to create). Thanks for reading. 🙂
Oct 09, 2012 @ 02:56:23
that sounds great, I’ll download the app and see if that works for me – thanks for the tip!