Digital textbooks

This evening, I received a mail from Jon Cheek who works for Zinio. Here is what he had to say:

Dear How to Go Green,

My name is Jon Cheek. I am a recent college graduate concerned about the environmental impact of printing millions of college textbooks every year. Although I bought used textbooks whenever possible, I frequently had to buy new textbooks to keep up with new editions or to get supplemental software.

However, I recently joined a company called Zinio that provides digital textbooks to college students. These digital textbooks are exact replicas of the new printed version, but are offered to students at half the price. They also have many useful digital features such as the ability to search, take digital notes, and use multimedia embedded directly into the page. Most importantly, since they require no physical production, digital textbooks help save trees and eliminate waste.

Most of my friends who have tried Zinio digital textbooks have really liked them. If you think any of your readers might be interested in digital textbooks, I encourage you spread the word. If you’re curious to see what the textbooks look like, please have a look at our website: http://textbooks.zinio.com. Also, feel free to send us feedback at textbooks@zinio.com.

Best regards,
Jon Cheek

The great thing about digital textbooks are outlined in Jon's mail - "the ability to search, take digital notes, and use multimedia embedded directly into the page". The best thing about them though is the lack of paper used in their manufacture. Fair enough, you're using electricity / burning oil just to read these books, but soon you'll be able to visit them for free as you'll have your own electricity generator in your back yard (consisting of photovoltaic cells etc.) Won't you? We'll see!

I believe you can buy many other books in digital format too, such as Globusz (you can read Dr Dolittle online or as an e-book) or Audible who provide audible e-books such as Bill Bryson's "A Short History of Nearly Everything".

Happy reading!
caldini