do not get me wrong. I still vastly prefer hard copies of books. That being said, it's a pain in the ass for me to move all my books between living accommodations as a college student. It definitely will be a pain in the ass to ship them internationally when I graduate. I also don't have to worry about losing or ruining a book on a trip, nor running out of reading material while on a trip. I can, literally, take a small library with me whenever I travel.

Then, of course, there's the advantage of being able to download other resources as well. I could feasibly download entire research journals onto an e-reader and be able to stay up to date on current topics in Field X without having to actually keep a store of every bloody issue of a dozen different journals.

With respect to the topics you raised, let me clear a couple things up for you. For one, no one makes you delete your ebooks. once you buy them, they ARE yours, for as long as you want them. They're downloaded onto your computer, accessible from any other computer online, and accessible via Wi-Fi or G-network on your e-reader itself. I can't speak for Amazon, but I can download my Barnes and Nobles books anytime I want. Not to mention any open source reading material I come across. yes. Feasibly you could lose your electronic collection. Your house could also flood or burn down and ruin your hard copies as well. It's a risk with all material goods. For lending, open source material you can pass around as you bloody well please. Additionally, Barnes and Nobles has a lending program where you can "lend" your books to any other person with an account (not even with that e-reader! just an account and a computer) for a prescribed amount of time. They don't finish it in time? You can just lend it out to them again. You can only have it lent out to one person at a time, but that's not enormously different than hard copies. It's not like two people can read the same hard copy at a time either (not without some pretty serious personal space infringement, anyway ).

As far as the price goes, that's a fair point to raise. Particularly when you consider the price of a hard copy, ebooks are presently a bit over priced. However, I think it is important to consider that as long as you don't go wiping your hard drives and civilization continues as we know it, you do also gain a copy of the book that is immune to the elements and won't be ruined by the destructive habits of small children or pets. Not to say such a fact is entirely worth the price, just making note. It's also important to note that there are many books and other resources available, entirely, for free. I do concede that no, you can't sell it back at a used bookstore.

As I said, I still prefer actual books. I will always reach for a hard copy before an electronic copy for a large number or reasons. If you just don't want to accept an e-book into your life, that is entirely your decision. But to entirely disregard the "new way" just because it makes your feathers ruffle is short-sighted, hide bound and bullheaded.