Ereader vs Bound Books

The Great Books thread made me wonder about others preference for reading media. I prefer a bound book because of the tactile feedback and because I've spent so many years reading that way.

Much prefer the sensory experience of bound books.

But the portability of ereader (I use Kindle) can't be beat for travel.

Plus, audiobooks for commute.

My reading now is probably 50/30/20 split among the three mediums.

Interesting difference... with ereader or audiobook I basically never have more than one book going at a time in each format. Print format... almost always have a couple going and a stack waiting.

Better to read a bound book, but not an expensive one, in the Jacuzzi.

I've not tried an e reader, but I'm about ready for it. How big can you make the font on them. Can you make the print a half inch tall? Not far from needing that.

I told myself years ago I wouldn't buy an E-reader because it never supported my type of books: graphic novels or comic books. I used to collect comic books as a kid. Then outgrew the collection mentality and instead opted for the substance route of the graphic novel. They typically offered more reading/substance and a complete story vs. a "to be continued..." approach. Still, it's a $10-$50 cash sink for each graphic novel. Better to borrow from the library but sometimes it's hit or miss on the quality of the novels there.

Anyone know whether electronic media has embraced the graphic novel scene?

Well, my Kindle has the font set at a half inch tall.

I thought I would hate Ebooks. then my girlfriend got me a kindle. I haven't bought a bound book since, and I read 30 minutes to an hour a day now, far more than before.

And my books sync up, so I can access my book with my phone and pickup where I left off, if I'm stuck in a waiting room, or something.

I still read bound books at work from our book share library, and I do enjoy the experiance of a bound book, but Ebooks are just so much easier.

My big peeve about Ebooks is the cost. The book sellers have to love the logistics and they still sell them at or just slighty below the bound book cost.

Salty9 -- with you about cost.
An interesting asset: http://www.gutenberg.org/
Essentially a project to make books that are now in public domain available at $0 to anyone who wants to read them.
I've read (or re-read) some great stuff free of charge.
Equally, I've downloaded some 'classics' I was supposed to have studied in 11th grade or so... carry them with me everywhere... sampled them... and still haven't read them :wink:. It is possible that they are great and I am lacking. Opposite equally possible?

I don't even know why bound books are still a thing being made.

My phone has maybe a thousand books on it, all downloaded free, including hundreds of complete engineering reference texts with illustrations, and all this only fills about 7gb of the 96gb of storage my phone has.

I feel the ability to have every text resource on my person at all times without even needing an internet connection to get it through google's awesome book scan resource is pretty awesome.

We are already at a time where the average 12yo kid with a smart phone and interwib access has a better library than the entire bound library of congress, and all instantly searchable and available faster to access than owning like 10 physical staffed libraries.

For pleasure reading (which I miss doing a lot), I love the e-reader because the room can be totally dark. Much more immersive experience for the imagination to run wild in the dark than feeling like you're reading some adventure novel in your mind, but seeing your living room chair or lap or annoying lamp or something trying you back to reality and preventing the same level of escape/immersion I get from a backlit ereader in the dark.

I would also like to add, I own 2 android based purpose built ereaders. Both just collect dust, because my preference is to simply read on my phone (galaxy note 2), it's most comfortable and lightweight to hold and the screen is absurdly good.

liveforphysics said:

We are already at a time where the average 12yo kid with a smart phone and interwib access has a better library than the entire bound library of congress, and all instantly searchable and available faster to access than owning like 10 physical staffed libraries.

Click to expand...

The problem I see is that the average teen has a bullshit filter incapable of discerning the gold from the glitter. I know mine works only sporadically.