During class last week, Professor LeBlanc made my College Writing II class do a little assignment. Each student was paired up with the person next to them and assigned a quote from Nicholas Carr’s book The Shallows.  Our assignment was to find the assigned quote in the book and state whether we agreed or disagreed with it.  We also had to find evidence in surrounding paragraphs that backed up what the quote meant.  For this blog entry post I wanted to comment further on this classroom assignment. 

My assigned quote was “But as a device for reading, the book retains some compelling advantages over the computer” from Chapter 6, on page 99.  I definitely agree with this quote, one of the few quotes I actually agree with in the book.  Although having technology such as a laptop, a cell phone, and an iPod is nice and efficient, many occurrences such as the weather or traumatic accidents can destroy these.  A book, although sometimes can be old and falling apart, can withstand most weather conditions and traumatic accidents.  Carr backs up his quote by saying that you can bring a book to the beach without worrying about sand getting on it or in it, you can fall asleep with it on your bed and not worry that it’s going to fall off your bed, you can put it down and pick it up right where you last left off, and you can throw it, drop it, or sit on it without breaking it.  As for a laptop, you cannot bring a laptop to the beach because sand will ruin it, you cannot fall asleep with a laptop on your bed because a fall will break it, you cannot put it down and pick it up right where you last left off because the battery may have died or the internet connection may have been lost, and you cannot throw it, drop it, or sit on it because you will damage it. 

After stating most, if not all, of the pros of a book and cons of a laptop, it seems strange to me that people continue to purchase kindles or any other electronic books fully knowing that it can be damaged extremely easily.  I feel as if a book is meant to be read in places all over, and a laptop is meant to be used in certain locations that have access to outlets and that have a safe environment for a laptop.  But then again a Kindle allows you to access many books at one time, and it does save the environment by not wasting paper.  However, although I agree with Carr in saying that a book is basically more function able and easily cared for than a laptop, I do still think laptops are better than books for different reasons.  A laptop can allow a person to look up information in a matter of seconds, sometimes even allowing a person to scan through hundreds of books with a click of a button.  So a book has both pros and cons, and technology has both pros and cons. 

Michelle Salvati