I stopped using physical books, and my reading experience has improved tremendously.

      If you're someone who prefers traditional books, you might find it hard to accept my suggestion of choosing an e-reader over physical books, and I completely understand that sentiment. The charm of the scent of pages, the heft of the book in your hands, and the entire reading ritual can be very appealing.

      However, if you’d grant me a moment to persuade you, there are compelling arguments in favor of e-readers over physical books. Let me outline the benefits of e-readers—once you see what you've been missing, returning to physical books can become quite difficult.

      Your entire library fits in your bag

      This is the most obvious benefit, yet it often doesn’t receive enough recognition. I tend to read multiple books concurrently, and lugging around two or three physical copies can be impractical. Even just carrying around thick books can be a hassle.

      With an e-reader, you can carry hundreds of books in a lightweight device. Switching between different titles is instantaneous. If you travel often, this convenience alone might be sufficient reason to make the switch.

      A hefty hardcover book may look good on your shelf, but it’s cumbersome during your commute.

      Heavy books can feel like exercise, not a reading experience

      If you enjoy reading fantasy novels, you’re likely aware that they can be quite unwieldy. You constantly need to adjust your grip, find a way to keep the book open, and somehow maintain comfort. While thinner books are manageable, once a book exceeds a certain thickness, it begins to hinder your reading experience.

      An e-reader remains light regardless of whether you’re engrossed in a short novel or an expansive fantasy series. Whether I’m reading The Count of Monte Cristo or the next installment in Brandon Sanderson’s The Stormlight Archive, my Supernote Nomad feels the same.

      Reading at night without disturbing others

      I often read at night, and this is where physical books tend to fail me. Conventional lamps and book lights rarely provide a comfortable illumination. The lighting is often inadequate, and sharing a room complicates the whole arrangement.

      Most e-readers, such as Kindles, come equipped with a backlight that you can adjust to your preferred brightness level. You can even switch to a warm light setting to reduce eye strain.

      I've read at 3 AM with the brightness dimmed, and it felt completely natural—no lamps needed, and no squinting involved.

      Look up any word without losing your spot

      As English isn’t my first language, and even for native speakers, encountering unfamiliar words while reading is common. In a physical book, your options are to grab your phone for a definition—which often leads to distraction—or to skip the word, potentially losing some contextual meaning.

      On a Kindle or most other e-readers, simply tapping a word brings up its definition instantly. You can translate it, add it to a vocabulary list, and resume reading in mere seconds. I now look up far more words than I ever did with physical books, and my reading comprehension has genuinely improved as a result.

      Taking notes you'll actually refer to later

      In the past, I used to annotate physical books with a pen, but those notes would just remain on the pages, rarely to be revisited. Transferring them to a useful format required more effort than I was willing to exert.

      With my Supernote Nomad, I can leverage its Digest feature to clip my reading material and quickly add any handwritten notes. I can then export these notes to Obsidian for further processing.

      For any e-reader user, highlighting a section and adding a note takes just a few seconds. Most e-readers also compile all your highlights and notes in one place, allowing you to easily review them without having to flip through pages.

      In physical books, my notes often faded into obscurity. With an e-reader, they've transformed into something that I actually utilize.

      Books are more affordable and easier to acquire

      Purchasing physical books tends to be more expensive than their digital counterparts. Additionally, as many publishers phase out mass-market paperbacks, we're often left with trade paperbacks and hardcovers, which may be visually appealing but come with a much higher price tag.

      E-books typically don't face this issue. I've bought several e-books at less than half the price of their physical versions. Moreover, e-books are frequently on sale, making them even more budget-friendly.

      When you find a book you want to read at midnight, you don’t have to wait for delivery or make a trip to a store. You can buy it and start reading immediately—a level of convenience that becomes quite appealing once you're accustomed to it.

      Should you make the switch?

      If you cherish the experience of physical books—the covers, the scent, the aesthetic of shelves—that’s a perfectly valid reason to continue with them. There’s absolutely nothing wrong with that. I, too, am building my own bookshelf and will always have a place for those special editions.

      However, for the sake of convenience, ease of discovery