Julieanna Guo

Alhambra HS

10th

WHY BOOKS?

Many read their books for knowledge and entertainment, but now books bring a new benefit: health. ?Did you know that just six minutes of reading is enough to reduce your stress by 68%? ?Make yourself comfortable with a cup of coffee and comfortable reading spot. ?Turn off that iPad or laptop, and grab a paperback book from your shelf. ?It‘s way more beneficial to feel the texture of the pages than a LED screen.

Reading on electronic devices will give many disadvantages. ?Staring at the white, hot, LED screens will only impair vision, while the soft pages of a paperback will sooth the eyes. ?Another great thing about books are their ability to convey information. ?According to Rachel Grate from MIC, the texture of a book help in memorizing the information from it. ?A 2006 study found that people read on screens in an “F” pattern, reading the entire top line but then only scanning through the text along the left side of the page. This sort of nonlinear reading reduces comprehension and actually makes it more difficult to focus. ?Books also bring a great sense of ownership. ?You can mark up the pages, create “dog-ears”, and write in your own notes. ?Sure those functions are also available on electronic devices, but doing the actions yourself will seem more natural.

My personal experience with the situation of books and electronics would have to be flights. ?On such flights, I would have to turn on airplane mode, which discourages some of the reading apps I have. ?I was running low on storage, and I had already finished reading the books I downloaded. ?Just then, I remembered that I had a copy of the Odyssey in my backpack. ?I pulled it out and felt the special jagged edges of the page. ?As I read the first few lines of the epic, the creative language instantly caught my attention. ?Reading the book cured my boredom of the flight and led me in a nostalgic memory of learning about this in English and history class. ?The Odyssey may not be the book for you, but one will definitely find their own comfort book to read.

So why are paperback books better than e-books? ?Just remember HEH. Happiness, efficiency, and health.

<Julieanna Guo, Alhambra HS>