Should green-minded readers switch to e-books?
By Margot Harrison
I love books. I still have the paperback of Wuthering Heights I bought in 1978 for 95 cents, though I can access its complete text on my iPhone. I remember the sights and smells of all my favorite bookstores and libraries, from Burlington to Boston to Berkeley to Paris. So, why am I considering buying an e-reader? Every day I’m confronted with the huge waste that paper books can represent. True, I’m in an unusual position: Publishers send books to newspapers gratis, unsolicited. As printing gets cheaper, each year seems to bring more review copies, many of which end up in leaning towers and bulging boxes. Where will they all go?...[continued]
