If you plan on being marooned on a desert island for any length of time, paper books might prove the better choice. (Assuming you could get the e-reader or the books on shore undamaged and protect them from the elements once there.) The e-reader would have the paper books beat as far as the amount and variety of reading material goes, since you could only have a few paper books with you (the usual number for taking to desert islands is, I believe, five or ten
), whereas the e-reader can hold hundreds or thousands. The charge in e-reader batteries runs down with use, and even without it, so you would need to have a solar or crank charger with you. Still, batteries eventually die, or other electronic components can fail, and then not even a charger will help. Bound books fall apart, paper deteriorates over time, but as we know, depending on climate and conditions, a printed book can still last considerably longer than a human life. The question to ponder then is, What will last longer, the battery and electronics of the e-reader, or the paper and bindings of the paper books? And if it's the five or ten paper books that win, will you be so sick of them after the long decades of your Crusoe-esque existence that you never bother to read them anymore anyway?