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Reading on paper or screen

LizzieMaine

Bartender
Messages
33,834
Location
Where The Tourists Meet The Sea
I am curious about something!

Why would anybody need 100 books all at the same time? What for? What is the use of that? [huh]

Time-Enough.png


"All the time in the world!"
 

HadleyH

I'll Lock Up
Messages
4,811
Location
Top of the Hill
You don't. It was an exaggeration of the fact that I may want to have 10 with me on a vacation. 10 books in my bag - even paperbacks - is ridiculous!
I can take books with me camping - cooking, emergency medical info, maps, you name it. All books aren't fiction - lots of what I have are reference. And one thing about e-books, they can have video and other helpful things paper books don't. I don't read romance novels :)
My daughter is in med school - almost all her books are on the iPad now. She's gone from an 80-pound bag to one device plus one or two books. Can't beat that.




You are talking about specialized circumstances; holidays and your daughter's studies, where reading on screen suits you better.

I am talking for average home use, where a vast number of people would certainly prefer a proper book. :)
 

Pompidou

One Too Many
Messages
1,242
Location
Plainfield, CT
You are talking about specialized circumstances; holidays and your daughter's studies, where reading on screen suits you better.

I am talking for average home use, where a vast number of people would certainly prefer a proper book. :)

Perhaps a person likes to read, but doesn't want the unused books doubling as a decoration? 100 books in my pocket means I don't need to make room for 100 books on a book shelf. If I'm reading one book, and I want to read another, but my chair is so comfy I don't want to get up, I can press a few buttons with my thumb and start another one. I used a similar argument giving away all my videogame consoles in favor of having a hundred or so games on my iPhone. Maybe I've just got a fetish for portability and space saving. Whenever I can combine multiple things into one, I tend to. I no longer like having lots of "stuff".
 

HadleyH

I'll Lock Up
Messages
4,811
Location
Top of the Hill
Perhaps a person likes to read, but doesn't want the unused books doubling as a decoration? 100 books in my pocket means I don't need to make room for 100 books on a book shelf. If I'm reading one book, and I want to read another, but my chair is so comfy I don't want to get up, I can press a few buttons with my thumb and start another one. I used a similar argument giving away all my videogame consoles in favor of having a hundred or so games on my iPhone. Maybe I've just got a fetish for portability and space saving. Whenever I can combine multiple things into one, I tend to. I no longer like having lots of "stuff".

I respect your opinion, but having said that, this is where some of us go one way and some others go the other way!

I enjoy being surrounded by books, just looking at books gives me comfort, the more books the merrier (the same goes for pictures on the wall and a few other things)



Rooms like this spell heaven to me!................ Screen books ? Nah, thank you very much!;)


bookshlelves-6-l.jpg


UqnHRhKTwpljgqfv7PluXEfMo1_500.jpg


Dark-cherry-library-with-ladder-by-Odhner-Odhner-Fine-Woodworking-Inc.jpg
 

LizzieMaine

Bartender
Messages
33,834
Location
Where The Tourists Meet The Sea
The tangibility of books is a wonderful thing. I can look at my shelves right now and see books I've had for thirty or forty years right alongside books I just got last week. It's like having your whole life on a shelf, available for immediate review, with no batteries or software upgrades required. And Amazon can't come along in the dark of night and delete them, either.

Plus, if I don't like a book or the author makes me mad, I can find much gratification by flinging that book across the room. Punching a "delete" button will never produce the same catharsis.
 

Yeps

Call Me a Cab
Messages
2,456
Location
Philly
Perhaps a person likes to read, but doesn't want the unused books doubling as a decoration? 100 books in my pocket means I don't need to make room for 100 books on a book shelf. If I'm reading one book, and I want to read another, but my chair is so comfy I don't want to get up, I can press a few buttons with my thumb and start another one. I used a similar argument giving away all my videogame consoles in favor of having a hundred or so games on my iPhone. Maybe I've just got a fetish for portability and space saving. Whenever I can combine multiple things into one, I tend to. I no longer like having lots of "stuff".

I can imagine that living in a small apartment or a dorm room, the convenience of a reader vs a whole bunch of books that you simply do not have room to store would be great.
 

HadleyH

I'll Lock Up
Messages
4,811
Location
Top of the Hill
The tangibility of books is a wonderful thing. I can look at my shelves right now and see books I've had for thirty or forty years right alongside books I just got last week. It's like having your whole life on a shelf, available for immediate review, with no batteries or software upgrades required. And Amazon can't come along in the dark of night and delete them, either.

Plus, if I don't like a book or the author makes me mad, I can find much gratification by flinging that book across the room. Punching a "delete" button will never produce the same catharsis.


I couldn't agree more!

Also, how can you tear away in disgust the pages of a book that you hate??????????? (which I have done a couple of times ;)) you can't do that with an Ebook, and that ain't good!:mad:lol
 

Edward

Bartender
Messages
25,116
Location
London, UK
You don't. It was an exaggeration of the fact that I may want to have 10 with me on a vacation. 10 books in my bag - even paperbacks - is ridiculous!
I can take books with me camping - cooking, emergency medical info, maps, you name it. All books aren't fiction - lots of what I have are reference. And one thing about e-books, they can have video and other helpful things paper books don't. I don't read romance novels :)
My daughter is in med school - almost all her books are on the iPad now. She's gone from an 80-pound bag to one device plus one or two books. Can't beat that.

I believe we're gonig to see much more take-up of eBooks in the educational text market over the next number of years. When I was at University myself, noone had a laptop - now most undergraduate kids come to my classes with one and take all their notes on it. There is a generation coming up who aren't tied to the idea of the tangible the way we are - kids to whom the norm is to buy your music as a download, and your movies, and whatever.

You are talking about specialized circumstances; holidays and your daughter's studies, where reading on screen suits you better.

I am talking for average home use, where a vast number of people would certainly prefer a proper book. :)

I don't believe "real" books will disappear any time soon, but certainly eBooks will increase significantly in popularity for certain purposes, especially if they get cheaper (currently for a new release they're often the same price as a paperback).
 

Cricket

Practically Family
Messages
520
Location
Mississippi
I love holding, reading, smelling books. But here is another aspect I look at it from:

I have two children. Everyday they pile next to me on the bed or curl up with me in my recliner while I read them a book. We typically shoot to read a book for at least 20 minutes everyday. It may be "old timey" or whatever but there is something about holding your children and a book together that makes it a moment for both parties. I don't think it would have that special feeling if I was holding a hand-held device.

Also, along the lines of reading with our children, there is a joy in loading up the kids to the library on a saturday afternoon to pick out their new book. It's exciting for children to run their fingers over the spines of books, and it's exiciting for me to see them happy about reading. Don't think it would be the same if they were clicking a mouse and waiting for it to download at home.
 

Nathan Dodge

One Too Many
Messages
1,051
Location
Near Miami
I prefer actual books over ebooks but the fact is that not many of the former are being published in subjects I enjoy these days. It's a rare thing indeed when a paper book interests me nowadays. I have built up a decent reference book collection over the decades, though. As a result of the decline of good published reference books, much of my reading is done online.

Also, even though I read quite a bit, I don't do it for enjoyment; I read strictly for information (this includes fiction). I don't own a Kindle* or any other portable electronic reading device and really have no interest in getting one, but then I don't have a cellular phone, either.




*Kindle: To burn, light up. As in books? Nah...it can't happen here! :D
 

AmateisGal

I'll Lock Up
Messages
6,126
Location
Nebraska
The tangibility of books is a wonderful thing. I can look at my shelves right now and see books I've had for thirty or forty years right alongside books I just got last week. It's like having your whole life on a shelf, available for immediate review, with no batteries or software upgrades required. And Amazon can't come along in the dark of night and delete them, either.

AMEN. My books are like old friends. I have them in almost every room of my house (except for the kitchen).

Another thing that I really hate (and this is probably from my freelance job) is scrolling through pages instead of just turning physical pages. My eyes start to go cross-eyed after awhile.
 

AmateisGal

I'll Lock Up
Messages
6,126
Location
Nebraska
I certainly believe there is room for both e-books and actual, physical books. I just prefer the latter at this point in my life. :)
 

Tatum

Practically Family
Messages
959
Location
Sunshine State
Hubby bought me an iPad for work. He and our CFO have one. It's for getting documents signed out in the field and conserving paper. What do we all do at home, however? Read on them! (And surf the Lounge, of course.)

I love real books, we still have a ridiculously large collection of reference, biographies, fiction, etc. Hubby just bought a sci-fi that isn't in ebook version yet, and he mentioned how much he does love physical books. But I love that I can open my book and read a few pages while waiting on a client, as I have my iPad on me for said client to sign when he does show up. The other beautiful thing about it (this doesn't work on a Kindle, mind you, since it is not backlit) is the iPad has this feature where you can make the screen black and the type white, so no need for a bright screen or a reading light in bed. I have slept much better, and haven't had to ask hubby to kill the light so I can, since we got them. That, by far, has been the biggest plus. Can also read the same thing at the same time if we really want to, or "swap" a book when we're hundreds of miles away from each other.

I have also found that all the reference books I have wanted lately are cheaper as ebook versions!
 

TidiousTed

Practically Family
Messages
532
Location
Oslo, Norway
I love holding, reading, smelling books. But here is another aspect I look at it from:

I have two children. Everyday they pile next to me on the bed or curl up with me in my recliner while I read them a book. We typically shoot to read a book for at least 20 minutes everyday. It may be "old timey" or whatever but there is something about holding your children and a book together that makes it a moment for both parties. I don't think it would have that special feeling if I was holding a hand-held device.

Also, along the lines of reading with our children, there is a joy in loading up the kids to the library on a saturday afternoon to pick out their new book. It's exciting for children to run their fingers over the spines of books, and it's exiciting for me to see them happy about reading. Don't think it would be the same if they were clicking a mouse and waiting for it to download at home.

Scandinavian studies show clearly that children who have been read for regularly will do better in school than those who were not read for. I read for my two daughters every evening before they went to bed when they were kids. And when we go to my weekend cottage together, which we often do, we still do but now we read for each other.
 

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