Books vs E-Books, Kindle etc

I will start by getting straight to the point.

I prefer a book over an e-book. Laying in my bed at night, or in front of the fireplace, I love to curl up with a book, and just read it.

The sound the pages make when you turn it, the feeling of the paper, the smell of it. All that contributes to my love for books. I recently got given a kindle as a present, I tried it for two days, and it really is just not for me.

It feels so cold, so impersonal. Like it has no life, just a tool, and that is what it is. There is something special about a book. Maybe because it was made from living things, whatever the case, books will always be my choice.

Any opinions?

vvv

i couldnt agree more.

reply to post by VreemdeVlieendeVoorwep


Considering the high cost of books these days and the amount of trees needed to produce them, e-books is the way of the future. It's hard to teach an old dog new tricks, but we all have to change with new and emerging technologies. The advantages of reducing land fill space, reducing the high cost of books (especially college students), the elimination of storage space, saving trees, reducing expenditures for public schools books, the ability to attract more young children to read, the ability to read in the dark, increasing text size for us
older folks, is benefiting the world in more ways than one.

I like both and think they both have a place in our world.. In some instances I have the same series of books in paper/hard back form and ebook, and as a sad git I also have some in audio format LOL..

I have quite a library on my Kindle, which is great to take out and about or on holiday with me... but I do have paper/hard backs that I read in bed and in the bath.. I can't get on with ebooks on non e-ink screens as I find my eyes get strained way to easy.

Yeah look you two guys posting above this post, I understand that.

But you see, I am a romantic at heart, and books are just more intimate than e books for me.

I know I know, that its more expensive, and for places like universities etc, it might make sense to use e books as a source for their information.

Maybe I am looking at this through rose tinted glasses, but that is how it is.

vvv

reply to post by VreemdeVlieendeVoorwep


My partner would never switch to ebooks, she loves the smell/feel experience, so I do know what you mean, and yes I really do like real books to read, especially hardbacks.. but for convenience the e-books are good..

As for expense, most of mine are from second hand book stores.. in the UK most charity shops have everyone elses throw outs, so it is easy to pick up an armful of books for next to nothing... Most of the people I know donate them back once they have read them.. keeping the good reads in circulation for a long time.

Now if I have an issue with ebooks, therein lies my grudge, where as I can buy a book, give it to a friend/friends to read, or sell it on, or donate it to charity I am stuck with an ebook that in most cases is locked down with DRM, difficult to transfer between devices (apps) or locked to one device(app)

So when it comes down to the bottom line, real paper based books are so much more flexible..

The Kindle is an attempt to destroy freedom of information, masquerading as modern convenience. I consider the ownership of such devices to literally constitute an act of treason against the human species at large. I'm also not being a hypocrite when I say that, either. I do not own an ebook reader, or any other mobile device, including a mobile phone.

They are all insidious, carcinogenic devices; and they are all intended to destroy human autonomy and real social cohesion, and to increase corporate and governmental control of human beings.

reply to post by VreemdeVlieendeVoorwep


I have a kobo vox, a poor mans android tablet, but mainly an e-reader. I love the convenience of not only having an entire library on there, but some of the features like monitoring your reading time, saving your page automatically, being able to select terms and find definitions, etc etc.

But nothing compares to a paper book. My e-reader is never going to replace paper books for me, but it does open me up to a lot of books I probably wouldn't have bought on paper, as well as the suggestions the software gives based on your reading habits.

With paper books I rarely have more than 1 on the go at a time, but with the e-reader I tend to have a few that I go between.

I agree it is just a tool, and it is impersonal, and it will never knock paper books out of the water.

reply to post by VreemdeVlieendeVoorwep


Hallelujah! I was beginning to think i was the only book lover left these days........

Bloody e books get right on my t***. Plus, how the hell do you aspire to having a library in your house based around e books?

reply to post by Flavian


LOl!

Good point mate!!

Man, the smell of walking into a bookstore is just amazing too. Especially those old bookstores, than keeps very old books, and secondhand books. Everyone of those books have a story to tell (no pun intended)

vvv

reply to post by Flavian


Well you have to set your little device sitting on a shelf facing outwards with the tiny tiny little pictures of book covers showing to impress your friends and family.. the only problem is that I have yet to work out how to get signed copies on it imagine all the people going to book signings with a Kindle/Kobo... lol

On a serious note, that is why I have mostly the same books in both formats... I trawl the charity shops looking for a bargain... can't fault the charities on that one, Oxfam by me has a few dedicated book shops which is brilliant.. besides it was one of the reasons I volunteered at Scope (and BHF for a year) so I could save some of the dog eared ones from ending up in the bin..

I do love books, but also love the convenience of not carrying a hardback with me for the few moments I manage to crowbar in some reading time.

reply to post by thoughtsfull

imagine all the people going to book signings with a Kindle/Kobo... lol

Can't speak for the kindle, but the kobo vox is an android tablet, the touchscreen is, um, functional? lol not great but good enough to get a digital signature.

Hell that could be a new trend, finger signed kobos lol

But you guys brought up something I never considered. With my paper books, I tend to keep a few for years and years, but donate or give away a large bulk of them. I don't think I can do this with e-books. Sure, I guess I could share the digital file, but that's really not the same.

I love hitting the bargain book store here, digging through a box of crap and finding something great, no digital store can compete with that.

reply to post by VreemdeVlieendeVoorwep

A reliance on e-books would be very limiting to the world, in two particular ways.
It would make the discovery of new books more inconvenient, when you can't do physical browsing.
Also it would shut off people completely from the vast number of older physical books which will never be translated into e-book form.

reply to post by DISRAELI


Another one to add is censorship, numerous books get edited to one degree or other, removing lewd passages from the classics, to removing words deemed offensive, whatever the reasoning it still seems like censorship to me, and without visibility of the previous editions who knows what changes they'll push next.

There was that infamous edit of the "Origins of Species" By Darwin that made it sound like Darwin was arguing against Evolution, and if you never got to see another version of the book, how on earth would you know that was not what he wrote..

reply to post by VreemdeVlieendeVoorwep


i agree with you. real paper books over electronic books. i try to find what i want at the used book store first before i consider buying new.

one thing i don't like about e-books is that when technology changes you may have to buy the books you already have again. or when one model of e-book becomes obsolete, you are stuck with what ever is on your e-book thing.

you also need batteries or a plug to read. else all you have is a paper weight.

star and flag


-subfab

reply to post by thoughtsfull


I do fully understand where you are coming from regarding the e books. Just wish they "did it" for me, as that may make life simpler. Lost count of the number of books that have had a soaking in the bath (or shower, read in both!).

An oak panneled library full of books - sounds like heaven.

A shelf with some labels of e book names - doesn't quite do it, does it?

I have to confess though that a large part of my stance on this may be down to the fact i am a grumpy technophobe at times. Take modern phones - as far as i am concerned, the only useful bit is the silent button!

Originally posted by VreemdeVlieendeVoorwep
reply to post by Flavian

 

LOl!

Good point mate!!

Man, the smell of walking into a bookstore is just amazing too. Especially those old bookstores, than keeps very old books, and secondhand books. Everyone of those books have a story to tell (no pun intended)

vvv

Exactly. We used to have loads of second hand book stores in York - you could copies of books hundreds of years old. These have gradually been replaced by Costa Coffees and Starbucks and the like (which shot very near to the top of my places to hate).

Can't go into town without checking out the bookstores still left. Any threats to them and i will the sole loon seen on the news waving a placard outside!

reply to post by VreemdeVlieendeVoorwep

books all the way
smell that goddamn delicious book
yum!

reply to post by Flavian


lol, nothing wrong with youe position, I love hardback books, and well, am an old git now, and prefer to travel as lightly as possible.. so am ok with the e-books for traveling, in the bath, well, that has to be a real book...you have to laugh at how we use the term real book.. but I have to confess that on checking my device I have all the same books on it that I have in print... lol, I will admit that I am that sad.

Now, my partner (she is the one that hisses at my ebook reader) and I have been discussing building a personal library, this place is too small, and we've seen a house we love that has a big enough kitchen to turn the dinning room into a library, she wants a piano in there too, nothing fancy just a cheap upright, mixed up with loads of books, some nice sounds and a couple of those *cough* snuggle chairs, tho being oldies it's one each, and we'll be happy as pigs in you know what...

All I have to do now is win the splottery or get a better job... and at the moment the splottery seems like the go-to route..

Originally posted by Flavian
reply to post by VreemdeVlieendeVoorwep

 

Hallelujah! I was beginning to think i was the only book lover left these days........

Bloody e books get right on my t***. Plus, how the hell do you aspire to having a library in your house based around e books?

I agree with you - it's hard to snuggle up with an e-reader and you can't take it with to read in the bath!

I've had an e-Reader for 6 months now and I've only ever read one book on there. I always go back to my paper books.