Why I’d Still Choose a Pile of Books Over a PDF

The last time I went out to get my orders, I passed through the University’s bookshops, and I saw lines of books arranged accordingly. I stood there staring at each book, reading through the titles boldly written out. I was scanning through them all, hoping I might find one that would follow me home.

But with those few minutes standing in the middle of the road with different shoulders touching my small body, I couldn’t find one that piqued my interest. “Maybe not today,” I thought to myself. But I actually needed another new book to go home with me, and since I couldn’t, I reminded myself there’s always a next time, and left.

While I love people who read books, I also do but to a certain limit. I’m not like those avid readers, and I read when I’m very much in the mood. In fact, I had to start reading all over again the book How to Win Friends and Influence People by Dale Carnegie, and I was more interested, especially since it’s been a long time since I last did that. This time around, I am more interested in finishing it all without slowing it down which I already started a few days ago. I actually made it a routine to do before bedtime, and I'm loving it.

I love books. I love holding and feeling them. I love the idea that I can underline, highlight, and mark those lines that pique my interest, resonate deeply with me, or that I really need later, whether to apply them or to use them as a reference point for other things. That’s something I don’t think I can do well with reading digitally through PDFs. Sometimes, I love reading PDFs, especially when I can’t afford to buy a hard copy, and once it can be downloaded online, I go for it.

When I enter people’s houses and I see those books stacked up in one corner, I feel I need the same too, not for show, but as something I could always return to whenever I’m bored and only need books to keep me busy and make me travel into the world through the lens of other people’s experiences woven into a book.

The other day, I saw @justfavour posted on his status, seated around much books and was lost in the world of the one he was holding. I love it! I can imagine how he would have perceive the smell of those books.

Right now, I only have five books I’ve read already and want to reread again to refresh my brain and, hopefully, rediscover phrases or sentences I might have forgotten. Even if I only have like twenty of them just stacked up in one corner of my room, it’s okay, something to give people the hint that she likes books.

I strongly believe reading hard copies does much better than reading soft copies that come in PDFs, especially when it comes to marking or highlighting with pen, marker, or whatever. The reason is that it tends to make me travel into the world of ideas to build on just a few sentences I’ve highlighted.

I have a small jotter where I pen down new ideas, questions, or suggestions that come up while underlining a particular phrase, and it gives me time to think through them without any distraction, unlike reading from a phone or computer, especially when you don’t turn off your notifications and you might easily be swayed off by those constant rings and buzzes from messages via friends, mails, or those YouTube reels that take your focus away.

So, I would love to stack up books rather than have loads of PDFs sitting on my phone and not even remember to open any for months. At least seeing those books around my home could give me the interest to open one of them and wallow in them.

_{First image is generated from Meta AI || Second image is mine}