It's the Smell

This is not a book. A book has pages. A book has a smell. A book doesn't process text, it is text. A book doesn't manage data, it IS data.
This might sound funny coming from the Business major with an emphasis in the technology of business who doesn't like books very much. But let me appeal to the emotional imagination for a bit.

You walk into a bookstore and you know exactly what you are looking for. You walk to the fantasy section and pick up Phantastes. It's weighty and colorful. Moderately thick. You open up the cover as if taking the wrapping off of a present. You hold it close to your face and breathe in deeply the scent of fresh paper and binding glue. You pay the twelve dollars for the book and you walk out. You put it in the front seat of your car as if a passenger. Then you wait a week till it rains. You light the fireplace and brew yourself some tea and sit on the couch near the fire. You turn to page 1. If you are me, you'll skip the introduction... and the forward. Chapter 1. Ah There is nothing like the opening lines of a book usually on the left side of the layout. Then you turn the page. You keep turning... each rustling sound gives you the feeling that you are moving through and with your story. Like the whispering swish of each turn down the ski slope, you enjoy each rhythmic up-down movement of your knees as you steadily gain speed, but your goal is the end. So it is with books.
You cannot do this with a Kindle. You cannot see or experience the end as it draws near. Maybe there's a page number but you can't feel the weight of the book, or the manner of your success in finishing. You can't visualize the length, or write in the margins. You can't be friends with a Kindle. Maybe I'll change my mind one day when I actually get the opportunity to enjoy the convenience of one... but I don't think so. Books are timeless and beautiful, Kindles are a result of man's need to save space and time and have the most convenience possible that is available to them. You can't be friends with convenience.