With the smell of science in the air, Café Utopía started another one of is sessions, this time to talk about Printed books vs. Ebooks. Jose Juncoso, the director of the University book publisher Abya Yala, was one of the speakers who addressed this topic in honor of World Book Day celebrated on April 23.

The session began with a video about the history of books. This event was attended by 30 people among teachers, students, and special guests such as Andres Hermann, from the Institute of National Higher Education (IAEN) and Hernán Hermosa, the coordinator of the University book publisher Abya Yala- UPS.

The discussion focused on the fragility of an eBook’s repository. For Juncosa “knowledge is widely distributed. Books are one of the most important creations of society because they accumulate knowledge in a linear manner”, he also referred to the power it has for transcendency of temporary and spatial limits..

Additionally, he explained that people read to be informed and not have contact with wisdom “a book has no barriers and it is not elitist because books have democratized.”

On the other hand, Professor Armando Grijalva talked about the importance of books as a strategy in times of conflict as in the case of the war between the United States and Iraq, where they invaded libraries to show books and its contents as an authority in society since “they strengthen identity and democracy”

One of the conclusions of this event was that nowadays an eBook is the complement of a printed book because according to Juncosa “books are a type of shelter and an ally, where thoughts are embodied and a place where we can feel identified.”

Por Rosa Elena Procel y Mayra Aguirre, redacción web