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Some people say that the internet killed reading books. Reading on the internet is only for chasing information, not for serious reading like reading printed books. But don’t forget that this is the digital era. As a result, printed books have also transformed into a digital version consisting of text, images, or both like a printed book, which is called e-book (short for electronic book). It’s true that you can read an e-book on a computer, smartphone, and tablet. But there is actually an electronic device specifically made for reading e-books: e-readers. In this article, TrueOnline would like to recommend e-readers to those interested in jumping on the (e-book) bandwagon.

What’s to love about an e-reader

Getting an e-reader is a great choice if you simply like to read. It is designed primarily for reading for long periods of time and gives you a better reading experience because its screen is black and white, glare-free, and paper-like. It is embedded with E-Ink technology, which is perfect for displaying texts and very kind on the eyes of readers. It does not emit glare and blue light, which strain your eyes if you look at it for hours, like a backlit screen of most electronic devices. You will get a more natural reading experience that is similar to the one you get from reading a real paper book. This kind of screen also helps save battery power, so you can spend hours and hours reading fiction or studying textbooks. E-readers’ battery can last about a month if it is in standby mode.

Moreover, you can have tons of books in a single portable and lightweight e-reader. You can pick it up and choose any title you want to read on the go from thousands of them instead of choosing one book over another to carry with you or carrying all the bulky books you want to read. That helps you save space in your bag and a lot of space in your room or house from a bookshelf nightmare.

It also gives you distraction-free reading. Unlike smartphones and tablets, e-readers will not send a bulk of notifications from social applications, games, or emails. You can just concentrate on your reading. And some e-readers even support a digital pen or stylus. So you can scribble notes, underline or highlight text, and write in the margins while reading the same way one can do with physical books.

How to choose an e-reader that suits your reading interests

You will see that there are many brands and models of e-readers out there if you look for one to purchase online or at stores. They come with various designs, screen sizes, functions, and prices. You might wonder which one is right for you.

If you are an avid reader of books in English, you should go for a Kindle e-reader from Amazon or Kobo e-reader. These e-reader models have their own operating system, or proprietary operating system. You cannot install any third-party applications on the devices, but their dedicated functions for reading e-books are very easy and convenient such as font customization, font size adjustment, and swipe to turn pages. They are built to mainly support the format of e-books you have purchased from their own e-book stores. There are thousands of e-books to buy on Amazon and Kobo bookstores, so you will surely find books you love there. For Kindle, you can opt for sending e-books in unsupported format via a special email address and have it delivered straight to your device.

But if you are reading mostly in Thai, Android e-readers will be more suitable for you because most Thai e-book stores are available in Google Play Store. You need to install the applications on the device to purchase e-books from them. The largest and most popular Thai e-book market is Meb where you can shop for Thai books, especially fiction (you can read more about it at Let fiction be your online friend in a time of (COVID-19) crisis). If you cannot find the e-book you want to read here, you can visit other Thai online bookstores that have e-books available for sale, for example, Naiin, Ookbee, and Se-ed. 

For comic or manga readers, an e-reader with a 10-inch screen is recommended over a 6-inch or 7.8-inch screen. The larger screen is ideal for reading comics and mangas that have much smaller text than general e-books. It is also perfect for reading PDF files since you cannot adjust the font size like any other e-book formats.

With e-readers, you can see that the internet has not killed reading books. On the contrary, having an e-reader and the internet gives you a way to remain a bookworm in the digital era. No matter if you prefer spines to screens or screens to spines, you will still have a choice to immerse yourself into the world of the extraordinary, imagination, and creativity.