The I-Pad is also an expensive shiny fetishized object, with a 101 distractions from the text built in. Access to content it offers can be revoked by the platform that offers it.

One of the reasons I love kindle and ebooks is that the classics are really cheap. You can buy the complete works of an author for a few dollars.

Reading has changed in some ways but not on the same timeline. In the nineteenth century (1800s), there was more reading of poetry and it was more of a communal/ familial thing - someone would read aloud and others would listen.

I like physical books because my eyes hurt from looking at the text on the screen

This was a great video! This topic has been interesting to me and I think you’ve articulated the thoughts I’ve had about this subject. One thing I wish our culture, and Booktube in general, would push is going to the library. Libraries are free, have WiFi, and are publicly funded. There is a desire from most readers to have an aesthetic home library or bookshelf, but these things come in due time. Hyper-consumerism has blurred these lines. One thing I would add to this video would be that reading may have a class distinction; however, the lines between socioeconomic classes has closed in. Before major publishers like Penguin and Vintage, the classics were mainly closed off to those who were classically educated (I.e. knew Latin, Greek, and French). When Penguin and the other major publishers started pushing out translations of these works, it closed an educational gap between the socioeconomic classes. I think many people take this for granted, myself included. We live in one of the best times for reading and book buying. We have far greater access to books than at any time in our history. I only fear we take that liberty too lightly. Thank you for the wonderful video and thanks for reading my TED talk.

I got lost in a forest after dark and used my kindle to light the way to the highway where I hitchhiked home 10/10 would have died without it

Why do you want fake books? Buy the real book, read the freaking thing. I can understand collecting but if that's the only reason you have books that just seems wrong

This was a great video! Well edited and excellently communicated, you should make more :)

It was a great video, I like your opinion. Espero que subas mas videos.

i love my ereader so much. i still get the opportunity to "flip" and i take notes separately so im thankful that is not lost on me. im not sure what i am trying to communicate about myself here, maybe its just that my ereader has such a pretty cover i am way too proud of to let that go!

You have me, who can't read e-books do the way I read. It also takes me awhile to finish the book on e-reader as I have to lock it so I can read a page. It is just too sensitive.

For me personally, I almost always choose a physical book over an ebook for the simple fact that I am ADHD and a physical book has a built-in fidget toy that helps me to focus. Ever since I taught myself to read at the tender age of 3 years old (I was jealous that my older brother could read and I couldn't), I have flipped the pages I've already read or have yet to read (whichever is thicker) between my fingers as I read. The sound, touch, and action is soothing and helps me to remain focused on what I'm reading. An ebook does not offer the same thing, and I often find myself getting distracted while reading an ebook, reading in 2 months on a Kindle what I could have read in a single day physically.

Most of true readers (scholars, me) read on screen

It was during the Victorian era when culture and art were striped from ordinary people to be a hobby for the bourgeoise. Is not a postmodern phenomena. Reading isn't a moral imperative. Is merely another way of expressing ideas. I would certainly recommend to read at least the classics. However I wouldn't recommend to close yourself to the contents of novels, which is what most people read, because most people hate reading science articles which are just as good. tl;dr no, reading a book won't make you smarter than the average joe, more so if you're unable to change a tire.

All of this is so incredibly Bourdieusian -- which is exciting for Bourdieusians as it signifies his continued relevance. His idea of cultural capital and the way it intersects with the assumption of intelligence and high class associated with books and book reading, this performance to the masses of your own intellect -- it's all so crazy that it's still relevant, and it's still happening. People do look down on those who read "Spicy" books because it's not "intellectual" enough, regardless of how popular it is. We as a society just keep replicating the class issue, mainly because these symbols are a reflection of reality for us. Class divides still exist, symbolic violence and misrecognition has to continue to upkeep that.

very well done!

When you have scoliosis and several herniated discs that never really heal you can’t really think about the aesthetics of reading a paper book under a tree… my back and neck hurts after one minute. I have a stand for my iPad that makes it possible for me to read without bending my back. I know there are big book stands but they take up so much space and aren’t portable. Another high class thing about books is the space they take up! Whenever I look into the windows of downtown luxury apartments I just see floor to ceiling bookshelves covering the whole living room. I live in a tiny apartment and could never afford to collect books like that, just one bookshelf

Holy moly, this was so well done! I'm surprised you don't have a whole roster of videos and a collection of subscribers already! I do hope you make more video essays in this same vein, I can never have too much of them x

Sick Gilmore girls breakdown!

MAKE MORE VIDEOS THIS IS GREAT!

Me, as a bookworm, who just wants to disappear into a book without techy & social (message popup) distractions.... XD

Physical books are good and all when you have bookstores. I remember when I was a kid and the only bookstore we had (Borders) closed. Then the only way to read anything was online.

This was such an enjoyable video analysis. It actually is true reading has become some sort of physical thing that shows other people that they are cool, it has become a sort of a prop specially on TikTok and ig.

This is beautifully done!

You raised a really interesting idea of e-books like kindle being unpopular because they do not convey the aesthetic of bookishness. I understand the appeal of the physical copies of books, but honestly, when you are really invested in the contect of the book itself, its form doesn't really matter. I've met people who read like enormous number of book a year just for themselves, not for the sake of challenges or anything. They were all using e-books as, when you do read a lot, it becomes much cheaper and comfortable to actually have your entire library in one place easily accessible.

Switched to Kindle in 2009 and never looked back. I find physical book people to be obsessed with buying (book haul ya'll!) and showing off their shelves whereas Kindle readers just want to fucking read and enjoy the story and don't feel the need prove anything.

You can find some really cool stuff at a used books. The eBook is nice on the go.

loved the video. i dont even own a kindle because it is not accesible to me right now so i read on my phone on airplane mode and an epub reading app. i sometimes think people could perceive me as phone addict and i know its ok and it doesnt really matter but it resonated with me. like reading a book would look cooler but buying every book i want to read is just too expensive in my country and i feel the symbol of books is even more elite here because of that.

Why everytimz I find a good intelligent youtuber they only make videos every few years

I dislike book instagram / TikTok cuz most influencers are always online posting 🤔🤨 so it’s just a look and idk I think for lots of people it becomes an itch to want to post to show people they are the person who reads (or goes to beach or is at the mall idk) I think social media in general can be used to share but some people are always trying to create an image of themselves online

Superb video essay- we need more of you

Amelia, this is fantastic!

What a great essay video!

Great video

In short, I care. Great video! Subbed ✌🏽

I read both ways because I love physical books, but ebooks and audiobooks are handy at the gym and on lunch breaks. Except for the rather massive downside of tech failures, which is currently a huge negative for me because one _just_ happened (and is still happening) to me. Lunch break at work, pulled out my phone to continue a library book I am at a cliffhanger in and the app no longer recognised my login info. Went to the library after work to check if it was a real account problem and it wasn't, so it is something broken in the app after the last update. This morning I was now able to login, but my entire account data has been wiped, including the book I'm reading. I tried to just borrow it again - I know what percent I'm at, so I can just skip to the right spot and keep going - but the catalogue is saying it is on loan. Yeah, it's on loan TO ME! But you aren't letting me read it! And I'm at a cliffhanger!! 😢 So I'm having a few negative feelings about ebooks right now 😆 I've never had a physical book delete itself at a critical moment. Or ever. Good old reliable paper. Can get wet, can get mouldy, can catch fire, but those risks are so much easier to manage than a tech failure is.

who's watching in 2024 👀

This video was great and also reminded my to go to the library to pick up my hold (which expired today!) so thank you!

I am so sad that people will buy books as decor… books that are seen in your library should be accumulated over time. Filled with favorites and well-read books

I was flabbergasted watching that woman talk about how she sent her husband to buy books JUST TO FILL A BOOKSHELF. Like what??? And she talked about it openly.

Deep reading is not promoted as attractive.

Great video. I think it is interesting people now doing something similar with movies, in home or at the theater. If you can now sit through an entire movie rather than a stream of tiktoks, you are somehow superior to a lot of preteens and teens. Books are = to movies or any other form of entertainment to me.

i love physical books, and i have a mini library in my home. i just wished they weren't so expensive sometimes. i'm the type of person that if i read a book that i bought at full price where something happens in it or how the book ends is something i don't like, i would feel as though i wasted my money buying a book that made me unhappy. which is odd, i understand. that's why i find a free version of it online or find it at my local library, read it, and if i like it well enough, i try my best to save up and buy it to have in my mini library. i've also thrifted books that seems intereseting and are in decent conditions, so even if that book had something or ended in a certain way i didn't necessarily like, i won't feel as bad about spending my money getting it cause at the very most, i probably spent like $1-$4 max on it.

What a wonderful video! Loved this.

This is such an interesting video, thank you! The class implications of reading are very interesting, I personally am working class and always have been. I fell in love with it when I was tiny and had access to libraries to feed my addiction… these days I often read on my kindle and buy books secondhand and I have never thought that reading and sharing my book thoughts might make me appear to be of a different class.

Audiobooks from the library not mentioned😢 They my besties

As an avid bookworm since a kid cause I had no friends… it’s so bizarre to see how trendy books are now.

loved this video, and i would have loved a section in the history dedicated to reading as a radical and political act, for example women being taught to read and black americans choosing to learn how to read as an act of rebellion and to further the civil rights initiative. i think it would adds an extra layer to the video and as to why some people want to read more and what they choose to read; personally whenever i dont feel like reading my books or even participate in conversations about books, i always think about my ancestors and the efforts it took for me to even be ALLOWED to read.

A really good video. Hope you plan to make more!

excellent video.