Textbooks vs. e-books

Another day, another skirmish in the battle between physical books and electronic books: Nicholas Carr links to a couple of studies on student usage of physical and electronic textbooks, one at the University of Washington, the other across the University of California system.

Within the UC system, those surveyed prefer printed texts, though not by an overwhelming margin. Many respondents said that their preference depended on the job at hand: for reference usage requiring quick access to specific information e-books were superior, but for concentrated reading and absorption, physical books were preferred.

One problem with the UC study is that when considering e-books, it did not distinguish between reading on a computer and reading on a dedicated reader such as Amazon's Kindle. Commenters on Carr's piece echo what Amazon itself has long touted: reading an e-Ink devices is much easier on the eyes than reading on a computer screen. Also, computers provide far greater opportunities for distraction, something mentioned by some participants in the UC study as a reason they preferred physical books (more conducive to concentrating on one's reading). e-book readers do not offer as much scope for distraction as general-purpose computers, so it's possible that breaking such readers out as a separate option from computers in a future study would offer more insights into people's actual preferences. (e-book readers still do a poor job of rendering images, though, making them suboptimal for, e.g., math or art.)

Carr makes an important point:

Two years ago, then-California Governor Arnold Schwartzenegger dismissed printed textbooks as outdated. "Our kids get their information from the internet, downloaded onto their iPods, and in Twitter feeds to their cell phones," he said. "Basically, kids are feeling as comfortable with their electronic devices as I was with my pencils and crayons. So why are California's school students still forced to lug around antiquated, heavy, expensive textbooks?" Many school administrators and government bureaucrats make similar assumptions, with little or no evidence to back them up.

The good news is that UC's findings are the result of a pilot study, not an ill-considered shift away from physical textbooks altogether. The Governator and other pols would do well to be less outspoken when they don't know what they're talking about.