The Grapes Of Wrath - Economic Battle Essays - U.S. Route 66

The Grapes of Wrath - Economic Battle The Grapes of Wrath is a novel by John Steinbeck that exposes the desperate conditions under which the migratory farm families of America during the 1930's live under. The novel tells of one families migration west to California through the great economic depression of the 1930's. The Joad family had to abandon their home and their livelihoods. They had to uproot and set adrift because tractors were rapidly industrializing their farms. The bank took possession of their land because the owners could not pay off their loan. The novel shows how the Joad family deals with moving to California. How they survive the cruelty of the land owners that take advantage of them, their poverty and willingness to work. The Grapes of Wrath combines Steinbeck adoration of the land, his simple hatred of corruption resulting from materialism (money) and his abiding faith in the common people to overcome the hostile environment. The novel opens with a retaining picture of nature on rampage. The novel shows the men and women that are unbroken by nature. The theme is one of man verses a hostile environment. His body destroyed but his spirit is not broken. The method used to develop the theme of the novel is through the use of symbolism. There are several uses of symbols in the novel from the turtle at the beginning to the rain at the end. As each symbol is presented through the novel they show examples of the good and the bad things that exist within the novel. The opening chapter paints a vivid picture of the situation facing the drought-stricken farmers of Oklahoma. Dust is described a covering everything, smothering the life out of anything that wants to grow. The dust is symbolic of the erosion of the lives of the people. The dust is synonymous with "deadness". The land is ruined ^way of life (farming) gone, people ^uprooted and forced to leave. Secondly, the dust stands for ^profiteering banks in the background that squeeze the life out the land by forcing the people off the land. The soil, the people (farmers) have been drained of life and are exploited: The last rain fell on the red and gray country of Oklahoma in early May. The weeds became a dark green to protect themselves from the sun's unyielding rays....The wind grew stronger, uprooting the weakened corn, and the air became so filled with dust that the stars were not visible at night. (Chp 1) As the chapter continues a turtle, which appears and reappears several times early in the novel, can be seen to stand for survival, a driving life force in all of mankind that cannot be beaten by nature or man. The turtle represents a hope that the trip to the west is survivable by the farmer migrants (Joad family). The turtle further represents the migrants struggles against nature/man by overcoming every obstacle he encounters: the red ant in his path, the truck driver who tries to run over him, being captured in Tom Joad's jacket: And now a light truck approached, and as it came near, the driver saw the turtle and swerved to hit it. The driver of the truck works for a large company, who try to stop the migrants from going west, when the driver attempts to hit the turtle it is another example of the big powerful guy trying to flatten or kill the little guy. Everything the turtle encounters trys its best to stop the turtle from making its westerly journey. Steadily the turtle advances on, ironically to the southwest, the direction of the mirgration of people. The turtle is described as being lasting, ancient, old and wise: horny head, yellowed toenails, indestructible high dome of a shell, humorous old eyes. (Chp 1)The driver of the truck, red ant and Tom Joad's jacket are all symbolic of nature and man the try to stop the turtle from continuing his journey westward to the promise land. The turtle helps to develop the theme by showing its struggle against life/ comparing it with the Joad struggle against man. The grapes seem to symbolize both bitterness and copiousness. Grandpa the oldest member of the Joad family talks of the grapes as symbols of plenty; all his descriptions of what he is going to do with

What Are the Methods of Inquiry and How Are They Used in Criminal Investigation Essay Essay Example

What Are the Methods of Inquiry and How Are They Used in Criminal Investigation Essay Essay Example What Are the Methods of Inquiry and How Are They Used in Criminal Investigation Essay Essay What Are the Methods of Inquiry and How Are They Used in Criminal Investigation Essay Essay 1. What are the methods of enquiry and how are they used in condemnable probe? The method of enquiry is based on garnering discernible. empirical and measureable grounds. Basically. methods of enquiry are ways that an research worker gathers the information for the instance that they are look intoing. Methods of enquiry are used in condemnable probe by roll uping grounds. statement aggregation. and traveling through electronic databases and even the cyberspace. The methods of enquiry are all used in concurrence to retrace the offense scene. The methods are besides used by using the five W’s. who. what. when. where. and why. and besides how. There are three methods of enquiry that are used in an probe and those are authority method. doggedness method. and intuition. For illustration of a method of enquiry. is when an research worker is roll uping the statements from either the victims or informants. The research worker will take all the information and grounds that is collected. roll up it all together and come up with the Reconstruction of the offense that was committed. 2. What is the optimum mentality of an research worker and how are the constructs associated with the optimum mentality of an research worker manifest? The optimum mentality of an research worker is one that is able to look for the motivation of the offense that is at manus and able to look into all the possibilities of even the most obvious grounds that has been gathered. In my ain sentiment. I think that an optimum mentality is where the research worker can treat all the grounds at manus. in their head and come up with a decision of what occurred. Besides I believe that the mentality is one that can be taught through preparation and experience. 3. What is the scientific method and how is it applied to condemnable probe by condemnable research workers? Scientific method is defined by the World English Dictionary as â€Å"a method of probe in which a job is first identified and observations. experiments. or other relevant informations are so used to build or prove hypotheses that purport to work out it† cited from hypertext transfer protocol: //dictonary. mention. com/browse/scientific+method. In my sentiment. the research workers must use the scientific method in every one of the probes that they do. The research workers must take all the information into their heads and inquire themselves what happened. how did it go on. and why did this offense happen. Once the research worker comes up with the replies so will carry on experiments to see if their thought was the ultimate decision of what happened. So for an illustration. the research worker can state. this is a slaying. the individual was stabbed. and the motivation was this individual was caught holding an matter. After the research worker comes up with his hypotheses he/she will so prove it. if the grounds does non back up his/her theory so he would get down over on calculating out what. why and how it all occurred. 4. Discourse the three primary beginnings of information for condemnable research workers and supply elaborate practical illustrations of each beginning listed. The three primary beginnings of information are Physical Evidence and Scientific Examinations. Documentation. and information signifier people. Each beginning is valuable to an probe in its ain manner. Physical evidence/scientific scrutinies is the grounds found at the scene of the offense. This can include vesture. blood. fingerprints. arms and much more. An illustration of physical grounds could be any listed above but besides a bloody knife or a shell from a slug. Documentation can be found in logs. records. and electronic informations that could be found at the offense scene. The research worker may besides hold to travel to certain bureaus to acquire the certification. although if the research worker does this they must cognize what that bureau is able to supply. For illustration. the research worker could name a phone company and acquire the recent call log for the victims phone and happen out who they have called in the yesteryear so many hours. or even travel on the victims personal computing machine and see where they have been on the cyberspace. Information from people could come from informants and or victims. libraries. sources. and even newsmans. The research workers while questioning persons and will garner more information from them that will assist retrace the offense scene. The research workers will besides hold to do certain that all the information that they receive from any of these persons are right and non seeking to derive something for themselves.

Tragedy of the Commons and Collective Action Term Paper

Tragedy of the Commons and Collective Action - Term Paper Example Acceptance of the reality of interdependency is implicit idea that all kinds or types of natural resources are for the good of everybody. This means resources are safeguarded for a common purpose of use, exploitation and preservation for replenishment and eventual use of all future generations. This idea is called the global commons of natural resources (Nonini 164). Early or primitive human societies had latched unto this idea of the commons due to their own survival instincts. Every member of the tribe is tasked to help preserve all resources not only for today's present consumption needs but for the future requirements of succeeding generations as well. Because of this concept of environmental preservation, the tribe members had banded themselves together with some social, cultural or religious arrangements to ensure that resources are safeguarded from over-exploitation, allowed to recover and replenish and to make everyone aware that no one owns these resources exclusively but ev erybody owns it. It is this idea that is known as the commons with the added sense of good stewardship. People are supposed to take only what they need from their common-pool resources. A fertile or rich environment can support a population adequately to provide a comfortable life as long as this practice is enforced. Nobody is supposed to take more than what they need, such as exploiting a resource for profit because some people had become too greedy. This had been practiced by the native Americans before the white colonizers came along. In fact, this is shown to be viable, a sense of abundance even in marginal ecological zones (ibid.). Continued population growth had put pressure on natural resources, a grim reminder of the theory put forward by Malthus centuries ago regarding... Good governance today demands consent, cooperation and commitment from people and the old ways of using coercion is no longer an acceptable alternative when imposing some form of social contract in managing common-pool resources (CPR). In fact, this was what the Nobel prize winner Elinor Ostrom advocates, using her recommended seven principles on the best ways on how to govern the commons while privatization is also considered but it has its limitations but an important point is that socio-economic models for sustainable extraction of resources can be implemented using the old ideas of liberal democracy. Global commons has been shown to be generative as well if done right, such as in music, literature, new medical technologies, hybrid seeds and in computer software where the intellectual rights are recognized and protected by copyright and patent laws.

Domestic Violence as Social Misogyny Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1000 words

Domestic Violence as Social Misogyny - Essay Example Domestic violence can be physical, sexual, emotional, economic, or psychological actions or threats of actions that influence another person. This includes any behaviors that intimidate, manipulate, humiliate, isolate, frighten, terrorize, coerce, threaten, blame, hurt, injure, or wound someone[they include] physical abuse (physical abuse also includes denying a partner medical care or forcing alcohol and/or drug use), sexual abuse, emotional abuse, economic abuse, and/or psychological abuse (ES 1)." As indicated, domestic abuse is not pick-pocketing. It is not a crime whose adverse effects can typically be righted by insurance payments or trials. Many domestic abuse victims suffer throughout their entire lives, and are severely compromised as human beings as a result of their abusive experiences. 11 percent of murder victims are said to have been killed by an intimate; additionally "Female murder victims are substantially more likely than male murder victims to have been killed by an intimate (ES 2)." The same calculations continue: "In recent years, Additionally, "it is very difficult to estimate the rate of domestic violence because the majority of victims never disclose that they are involved in partner violence. It is estimated that, regarding violent behavior toward females within the context of an intimate relationship, only 20% of all rapes, 25% of all physical assaults, and 50% of all stalking are ever reported to the policeThe following statisticsshed light on the prevalence of domestic violence (statistics are for the U.S. only): 20-30% of American women will be physically abused by a partner at least once in their lifetimes 1.3 million women and 834,732 men are physically assaulted by an intimate partner annually 201,394 women are forcibly raped by an intimate partner annually 11% of women in homosexual relationships and 23% of men in homosexual relationships report being raped, physically assaulted, and/or stalked by an intimate partner 503,485 women and 185,496 men are stalked by an intimate partner annually 1-25% of all pregnant women are battered during pregnancy 30-40% of women's emergency room visits are for injuries due to domestic violence 30% of women killed in the U.S. are killed by their husbands or boyfriends 50% of men who assaulted their female partners also assaulted their children 3.3 million children witness domestic violence each year (ES 3)". As the data clearly shows, domestic violence is primarily a problem of violence against women. To ignore this problem is to ignore a problem whose primary impact is upon the women of this society, and as such, is a sexist and misogynistic action. The National Center for PTSD goes on to note "There are also many psychological effects of domestic violence. Depression remains the foremost response, with 60% of battered women reporting depression. In addition,

Montaigne Response Essay Example for Free

Montaigne Response Essay It is no secret Europeans have conquered not only new lands, but their neighbors on the Continent too, by lying and deceit since the days of Ancient Rome. Montaigne remarked on how â€Å"better bred sort of men†, i.e. the Europeans, are more curious and discover more than their uncivilized counterparts in the New World. Because of their â€Å"superior† breeding, this essentially allowed them to lie and explain things in order to positively affect them. Montaigne remarked on how when meeting a â€Å"plain ignorant fellow† of the New World, he appeared more likely to tell the truth, solely because he was uncivilized in the eyes of the Europeans. As he puts it, the Europeans cannot help but alter the story, never representing things how they are, but how they appeared to them. To contrast this, the Cannibal is just a simple, ignorant fellow, who tells things exactly as they are without distorting any facts or evidence. He is not capable of changing the story to suit his needs. That concept particularly stood out to me because it made me realize that the smarter, more educated, and arguably more civilized someone is, the better they are with words and the more likely they are to alter a story for personal gain. The primitive peoples of the New World were not capable of the high level deception and treachery the Europeans were. That is not to say that they were not capable of being just as cruel to their fellow man as the Europeans were, but as Montaigne puts it, lying, treachery, dissimulation, avarice, envy, detraction, pardon; they were unfamiliar concepts to the Cannibals. One question that transcends time is why some nations or peoples were able to conquer and subject others. There are many theories and arguments to answer this but I am going to make the case that it is because some can deceive and others cannot. For example, white fur traders in the early 1800s were able to get Native Americans addicted to whiskey, often diluted, and â€Å"flavored† with tobacco juice. Still, it had its desired effect and it left many tribes clamoring for more. Once the Native Americans inherent weakness for whiskey was known, fur traders and land speculators used the firewater to obtain Indian lands and furs. What is the theme of this glimpse from the past? The same words Michel de Montaigne used to describe what his Europeans colleagues were capable of; lying, treachery, dissimulation, avarice, envy, detraction and pardon. It seems to be a common theme when one people are taking over another. The concept of European superiority in the 16th century was no doubt reinforced by the magnificent art and culture that was blossoming during the Renaissance. Besides the Orient, the world was unknown, undiscovered and above all, not Christian. The Popes of the time were all too happy to commission expeditions to baptize the New World. The themes of avarice, treachery and cruelty are not exclusive to Europe, however the Europeans were able to export it on a global scale. These themes exist all over the world in every country, they are human traits, but it was the Europeans who left the Continent to conquer and kill, for God, Gold, and Glory. Cunning though they may have been, Montaigne hit the nail on the head when he remarked on European’s ability to distort the facts and to deceive the â€Å"lesser† peoples of the New World.

The Jacket by Gary Soto Essay -- Papers Essays

The Jacket by Gary Soto In "The Jacket" Gary Soto uses symbolism to reflect on the characterization and development of the narrator. Soto seems to focus mainly on a jacket, which has several meanings throughout the story. The jacket is used as a symbol to portray poverty, the narrator's insecurity, and the narrator's form of self-destruction. Since the story uses a certain object, the Jacket, as the meaning of several issues, it primarily focuses on the narrator's poverty-stricken family. First of all, an example of the poverty is demonstrated when the narrator complains that the jacket "was so ugly and big that I knew I'd have to wear it a long time"(paragraph 3). It is clear that his lack of money was a problem in which he would have to keep the jacket because he could not afford a new one. The narrator then feels embarrassed and upset by the jacket by stating "I blame my mother for her bad taste and cheap ways"(paragraph 10). By mentioning his mother's "cheap" ways he is conveying that he is aggravated because of his mothers option to choose bad and ugly clothes in ord...

Conventional Books vs E-Book Essay

As past times go, there’s little that is more old-fashioned, quiet and basic as reading a book. Or, at least, that used to be the case. But with the competitive flood of electronic readers, or e-readers, hitting the market as well as e-reader applications for smartphones, the reading experience has been getting a progressively modern makeover. The stats are in and the fight is on. Overall book sales have dropped in 2008 and 2009, according to the American Association of Publishers (AAP). While adult hardcover books actually increased by over 6% in 2009, eBook sales, which account for 4% of all book sales, have increased a whopping 176%. Are these figures telling the tale of the tape as the publishing industry struggles to regain their status as a recession proof industry? Are eBooks on their way to eliminating traditional books altogether? Most of us love to read and most of us have our preferences for the platform we read from. Will you be a traditionalist and stand behind the old guard? Bill McCoy, executive director of International Digital Publishing Forum, based in Seattle, Washington, said that while it’s hard to gauge just how the sale of digital books (e-books) is growing, it’s clear that the sales, as a percentage of the overall market, are in the double digits â€Å"and on a fast-growing vector†. â€Å"Amazon is saying that they’re selling more e-books than hardcover books. And in many cases, depending on the title, they might be selling more e-books than physical books. † A relatively new phenomenon is that e-reader, be it Kindle, ipad or a number of other new competitors coming into the marketplace. When we think about our environment, these devices seem to be more environmentally friendly than our typical paper and cardboard book, even a paperback. There are certain tactile to real book, just feeling the paper, turning the pages. But on the surfaces, the e-reader would seem to be much greener. E-reader vs. conventional book is a provocative question. Actually, right now, there are some major problems with conventional book publishing, of which you should be aware, if your goal is to get this community to acquire and then to issue your work. The first one is distribution through bookstores has never been tougher. Most publishers sell to stores on consignment. If books don’t fly off shelves into the hands of buyers, they’re returned to publishers, very quickly. Your title doesn’t get very long exposure or time to establish itself. Other than that, books used to be kept â€Å"in print† and available for longer periods of time, in many cases, for years. Now, they’re put to death quickly, if initial sales are anything other than brisk. Besides that, we live in an era of the celebrity book. If Oprah wants to write a diet book, it will be a monster hit; you know that. But the most exciting, up and coming, highly credentialed nutritionist may not have a chance of breaking into print. Next, publishers expect authors to make them profitable through personal promotional efforts. â€Å"What are you going to do to sell this book? † is the major question they ask, and agents will tell you, without a personal commitment to sell your own copies, stated in your book proposal, you won’t get a publisher to bite. Otherwise, publishers are clueless, themselves, about what to put out there. Reluctant to lead, and reluctant to follow the success of others, they are like the proverbial deer in the headlights. It used to be the case that if you wanted information on a subject you either went to your library or to your local bookstore. Not anymore. By going to the Internet, you can assemble the equivalent of a book, fast and more or less, for free. Publishers haven’t figured out how to sell content at a premium, in an environment in which so much of it is available, instantly, for nothing. There are alternatives to conventional book publishing, including self-publishing and using media alternatives such as audios and videos. A regular book is better. Not only is it more reliable and you don’t have to worry about it dying, but there is just something special about feeling the smooth front cover and the rough edges of the thick, coarse pieces of paper that have been read by so many. If you get an e-book you click, download, and read. There’s nothing like the feeling of finishing a really good book. You want to share it with someone! You can’t share an e-book. E-books are really only good for travel. Most of the people refuse e-books either but prefers reading conventional books. Readers like to read in bed so it’s easier the conventional way; they always find it’s easier on the eye to read a conventional book. It seems that our eyes feel more tired for reading e-book. Reading in the internet really hurts people’s eyes. Anyway, we should protect our eyes. There are people who read both but by far prefer a real book. In the technology era, there are some advantages and bright future for e-book. The first one is from the finding the book from the bookshelf. Depending on how many books readers have, and how organized they are, this can be a fairly daunting task for traditional books. Some people used to have organized the books by the name of author, type of the books or alphabetically by title. That fell by the wayside the last time they moved. While they arranged it, they are completely random within the way they organized. That may not sound like trouble, but for someone who has a lot of books, for instance, it can make any one book tricky to find. While searching for a book on the virtual bookshelves within the e-book application is only slightly easier. Using e-book application, making it easy to find a book by typing the title, by author or by how frequently people read the book. Secondly is travelling with books. Some people used to travel a lot and it was all they could do to fill the boredom of those long journeys with reading. It meant readers had to bring a lot of books with them, which weighed down their luggage. Travelling with e-books is something that they call heaven. They can close to 200 books and 30 or 40 magazines on their e-book application. The traditional books stack lot of kilograms but then using the e-book just only a few grams. From this side, people more prefer to using e-book rather than conventional books. In many circumstances, reading an e-book is far superior to reading a traditional paper book. Firstly, the portability of e-book. The wonderful thing about electronic text is that it takes up virtually no room, in both a physical and digital sense. If readers have a storage card, they can walk around with at least a dozen books, and probably many more than that. Even if they don’t have a storage card, they can still walk around with a fair collection of three to six books (again, depending on book size and available memory). In many situations it’s hard to carry even one book around with people. The storage abilities of most e-books allow readers to carry a reasonable collection of reading materials and/or reference texts. Because they probably carry their handheld around with them everywhere anyway, the convenience factor increases nearly exponentially. Because e-book is digital, not only are they super-portable, but they also open up the possibility for some really useful features. For starters, since most e-book is in some form of digital text file, readers can search the text for words or phrases. This is helpful when readers want to find a quote or another specific section of the book. This can cut minutes, if not hours, off of wild goose chases for particular passages. Additionally, digital formats are assuming copy protection doesn’t get in the way that can be duplicated forever without decay or any real expense. We’ll dig deeper into the specifics of this issue later in the series, but if the e-book allows it, this duplication ability can make it possible for people to share books with their friends without ever having to actually give up one of their possessions. This is good for publishers (and hopefully writers as well), who don’t have to pay any production costs. This in turn should drive the prices down for the readers. While the digital nature of the e-book in theory raises the effectiveness of e-book, it also brings up a few ideas that are interesting and worth perusing in this series. E-book also easy to be read. The electronic format offers readers even more benefits over traditional paper books. E-book can be read in a variety of lighting situations, and due to the back lighted screens that most palm computers have, people can read an e-book in most low or no light situations, such as on the subway, during nighttime road trips, or in bed when they don’t want to disturb their partner. Advantages of conventional books over electronic is resale value. Like music downloads, people will never actually be able to resell electronic books. If they are into collectable books, this is a particularly big problem and they should only use physical titles. Reading ease is also one of the advantages of conventional books. This one is only really a benefit for those that would otherwise read e-book on their computers or phones. If readers buy a commercial e-reader, it will probably use ink technology that will not hurt their eyes with backlight. Never the less, readers don’t need to worry about this problem with a physical book. Other than that, no devices needed. If readers find themselves in a small town without their cell phone or computer, they won’t be able to download a new title for your e-book, but they can always stop by a local bookstore and pick up a new paperback. Conventional books have no batteries. While most readers have a good battery life, there will still be times where readers forget to charge it and then can’t read at all. Readers will never have this problem with a standard book. No warranties needed when readers choosing conventional books. If their e-reader breaks, they will have nothing to read until they receive a new one. Some devices let them read the titles they have saved on their computer, but it’s just something readers will never have to worry about with a physical book. Best of all, if a book does get damaged to where people can’t read it, they can just go to the bookstore and buy another copy, rather than worrying if it is still covered by the manufacturer’s warranty. Next is tradition. Let’s face it; people are never going to get that comforting smell of paper or the weight of a good book in their hands when they read an e-book. And while people can flip ahead in an e-book, readers can’t do so in a matter of seconds and flip right back to the page. Amazon recently announced that its June 2010 Kindle e-book sales nearly doubled its hardcover book sales (180% higher). Many of those e-books were self-published books priced under a dollar; however, data indicates e-books may become the dominant long-form format in not too many years. Are low-overhead e-books better for authors or publishers than their print counterparts? Forrester Research says retailers will sell 6. 6 million e-readers in 2010. Apple has already sold 3 million iPads, which are capable of reading Amazon Kindle e-books as well as Apple’s iBooks. At average prices, one would need to buy 15 e-books to offset the $189 price tag of a Kindle, 12 e-books to pay off a $149 Barnes and Noble Nook, and 39 e-books to justify a $499 entry-level iPad (assuming price is the only factor). E-books are up 200% from 2009, according to the Association of American Publishers; however, they still only represent 3-5% of total sales for publishers, according to the New York Times. Hardcover books are also up 40% since 2009, indicating that while e-books are undoubtedly a big part of the future of long-form publishing, people will still be turning paper pages for a while. (Sources: PrintingChoice, NYTimes) The tactile pleasure of worn pages between reader’s fingers is hard to replace. But when it comes to encouraging people to embrace the written word, e-readers trump their physical counterparts. According to the infographic below, people who own e-book devices say they read more than people who don’t, at a rate of 24 books per year to 15. Education, escape, relaxation and entertainment rank as people’s main motivations to plow through books — proving that, whether electronically or via dead tree, reading remains a popular pastime. E-readers are also rising in popularity, signaling that it may not be impossible to imagine a world without traditional books sometime in the not-so-distant future. From December 2011 to January 2012, e-reader ownership nearly doubled, from 10 percent to 19 percent, among American adults. And that stunning surge in just one month’s time doesn’t even account for tablets or other mobile electronic devices people use to read books and long form content. Worldwide, meanwhile, e-reader sales rose by nearly 3 million between 2010 and 2011. It’s also interesting to look at the relationship between actual e-book consumption and ownership of a device that enables users to read books electronically. According to one study, 29% of American adults own a personal e-book device, tablets included. But just 21% of adults had actually read an e-book in the past year as of February 2012. It’ll be interesting to see if and when experiments on the potential impacts of e-readers on memory and cognition are done, as the market has definitely reached a point of no return in terms of moving away from printed pages. Stephanie Mantello, senior public relations manager of the Kindle group at Amazon. com, gave answers that didn’t include specifics, but implied massive quantities. For instance, when asked how many Kindles the company has sold since the product was first introduced in 2008, Mantello simply said, â€Å"Millions. Millions of people are reading on Kindle. Kindle is also the best-selling product in the history of Amazon. com. † It is the most-wished for on the â€Å"wish list† function account holders have on the company’s site. It’s given as a gift more often than any other single product. It has the most 5-star reviews. She did say that between April 1 and May 19, for every 100 print books the company sold, it sold 105 Kindle books. â€Å"This includes sales of hardcover and paperback books by Amazon where there is no Kindle edition. Free Kindle books are excluded, and, if included, would make the number even higher,† said Mantello. The reasons for the slow acceptance of e-books vary but a constant reason given was not being comfortable with reading using personal computers, laptops and palm pilots (Helfer, 2000; Andersen, 2001). Other reasons included: finding it difficult to read on small screens, problems with browser, slow loading time, difficulties in navigating (Gibbon, 2001; Chu, 2003); and preferring to read printed text (Ray and Day, 1998; Holmquist, 1997; Gibbon, 2001). Summerfield and Mandel (1999) indicated that library users at the University of Columbia would use e-book in some depth when they are required to do so by courses they are following. The studies above indicated that the degree of acceptance of e-book is on the rise but the preference for printed text remained. A high percentage of students indicated that they used e-book because it was available online (64. 2%), provided faster and easy access to new titles (45. 7%) and did not require physical visit to the library (40. 7%) (Table 1). Bodomo†¦et al’s (2003) respondents gave similar answers and his respondents recognized that digital libraries were very convenient since they did not need to go to libraries and could still read and download books or journals from home. Similarly, Chu (2003) also reported that â€Å"available around the clock† and â€Å"searchable† were valued the most by students at a library and information science schools in the USA. Table 1: Reasons for Using or Not Using e-book Table 1 (b) shows that almost half (45. 6%) of the non-users indicate preference for paper format as a barrier for them from using e-books service. Holmquist (1997) found that the main reason for his respondents’ non-use of e-journals was their preference to read articles on paper, not on the computer screen. Other non-users have mentioned factors such as little knowledge on how to use or access e-books, the print copy is convenient to use, the lack of Internet connection, difficulty in browsing and reading, having no interest, and perceiving the need for special software to be able to use e-book as being cumbersome. When the non-users were asked whether they would use the e-book in the future, only 30% (38) gave a definite â€Å"yes† while the majority (61%, 76) indicated â€Å"probably† or â€Å"not sure or â€Å"probably not†Ã¢â‚¬  (6%, 8; 2%, 2). â€Å"While university students operate in a world immersed in digital text, they have not simultaneously abandoned print. It is not true, as Steve Jobs stated and as Nicholas Carr implied, that they like the iPad because they don’t read. In fact, for their university studies, students prefer to read on paper, although they also want the convenience of online digital text. † Cull, 2012 There is no doubt that new forms of publishing are becoming increasingly popular across the world. Their benefits are those that the traditional  printed book could never imagine to surpass, and they fill a gap in a rapidly increasing market of readers dictating portability and mass storage as necessary to the current lifestyle. However, evidence shows that readers are not entirely convinced that e-readers are books of the future. They have not caught on as other recent technology trends have, and the consistent theme of simulating e-readers to resemble traditional books, indicates that consumers are not prepared to relinquish the time-honored form for this new technology. As such, the chance of books becoming redundant or obsolete in the near future is improbable. â€Å"The history of communications media tells us that new media often do not replace old. At most, they redefine the purposes and functions of older media† (Cope & Kalantzis 2001:5). Of more value to consumers then, is a co-existence of the two, amalgamating the benefits of each to accommodate for the needs of all, rendering neither redundant nor obsolete.