true power is held by the person who possesses the largest bookshelf.

Opening a book for the first time is special. It is accompanied by a magical, almost secret kind of joy. Feeling the weight of the book in your hands, your fingers running over the smooth cover before tentatively pulling it back, the rough pages underneath your fingertips, and the anticipation of that opening line....

I am behind the times.

The sale of eReaders was projected to rise 68% from 2010 to 2011. An increasing amount of people would rather scroll through a website to find a new book, than browse the shelves at a bookstore. Further, it was recently announced that the remaining 405 Borders stores would be closing. Clearly, the way people read is changing.

I have seen this firsthand.

My brother asked for a Sony eReader for Christmas. For for the first time in his life, he reads for enjoyment. He often stays up into the early hours reading everything, from Great Expectations to Jane Eyre. I never could have foreseen this. eReaders are beneficial, as they can bring literature to those with previously little interest.

But I am a traditionalist. I worry one day the way I read books will become obsolete. An eReader seems so impersonal - the words are the same, but the experience of reading is different.

What do you think? Are eReaders the way of the future, or do they threaten the traditional reading experience?