Physical books or ebooks?

[gerbilwoman]

Physical books. I have a Kindle Fire which I love and use for playing games and accessing the internet. I rarely read on it however. I've tried it but just don't care for it. I do read on it occasionally because they sometimes offer free books, in which case I feel it is worthwhile.

 

[sisbarn70]

My ex bought our daughter a Nook thinking this would encourage her to read...I bet she's downloaded 2 books in over a year lol. Lots of games and music though

 

[Unix]

I really can't understand why buy children any advanced electronics, because that's all they do if they don't quickly break them? Except at some point, when they don't do much games anymore, they can have a real computer - at first a desktop:

My ex bought our daughter a Nook thinking this would encourage her to read...I bet she's downloaded 2 books in over a year lol. Lots of games and music though

 

[sisbarn70]

I know, she's 14 now but I've seen much younger kids with iPhone. We did have to get her a cell phone but its a dumb dumb phone (her dad dropped her off at boys and girls club... But they weren't open :/ I think we split the cost so that never happened again WHEW)

 

[gennypearl]

Hmmm, tough one.

Physical books .

 

[RobertVSingh]

Can't beat physical books for that feeling of curling up and shutting out the world for a few hours. Somehow eReaders (even though I use one quite a lot) don't do the trick.

 

[All4Christ]

Both...physical books for relaxing while reading, electronic for on the go, books I don't have space for, or if I'm switching between reading and audio

 

[abysmul]

Physical books.

But... if I have something like a rule book or reference book the search-ability of an ebook is invaluable.

 

[SCronk]

Even though e-readers are popular, and I have put my entire reference library and most of my books on my Kindle, most folks still seem to prefer the paperback books. I published one book as an e-book only, and boy did I get feedback from those who wanted to read it but didn't have and weren't planning on buying an e-reader. There's just something readers get from that tactile connection with a paperback or hardcover book. Plus, there' still that ability to pass it on to a friend. Amazon does allow authors to allow lending on their titles, if they choose that option, but most people find it easier to hand their friend or coworker a bound book.

 

[NIrelandGillian]

It depends. I would normally vote for real books for a variety of reasons. I don't have to worry about charging them, losing their memory, or accidentally dropping and breaking a screen. On the downside, I'm amassing books at an alarming rate and one of my bookshelves actually broke a few months ago.

So, it looks as though I'm going to be resorting to e-books more often. With the benefit of not having to pay the price for hardcovers, they're a lot easier on my budget right now.

You can get a lot of books free online and on Kindle, especially classic books. I have lots of books on both.

Gillian

 

[Ada Lovelace]

>.< Patience is a virtue I need to work harder on having. It was taking too long to load so I hit submit twice more, and that's how I wound up with a triple post. I'll leave the real one as 3rd.

Oopsies. Apologies.

I'll try to turn this into a semi-useful post.

http://www.christianforums.com/threads/sources-for-e-books.7873525/

If anyone has any sources for free ebooks, could you please contribute to that thread?

 

[Ada Lovelace]

2nd of the 3 duplicate posts. I'm leaving the actual post below.

For this one....

What kind of e-reader do you prefer?

 

[Ada Lovelace]

E-books actually feel more like "real books" to me because pretty much the only time I read printed books are when I'm in the tub or floating in the pool and I don't mind if the paperback that I bought for a $1 from the library or found somewhere in the house gets wet. Those books are mainly for carefree reading, whereas the ones on my iPad are more purposeful. I have almost all of my textbooks, required reading, classics, and other books that are important to me on there. I feel like I am able to more readily and quickly learn from ebooks because if I encounter a word I don't know or concept I'm not familiarized with I can click it to open up the dictionary or other resources for information. I am taking AP Spanish Literature this year, and we had extensive reading all in Spanish. Montalvo, Molina, Unamuno, and Cervante are challenging enough to read in English, but if you're not a native Spanish speaker and you were reading them in Spanish on a physical book I think you'd soak the pages with tears of your frustration. The ability to highlight a word and have the Spanish-English dictionary pop up was a Godsend!!! I also love being able to make notes and integrate them and passages into EverNotes, highlight, do keyword searches, and cart around a ton of books on one little device that weighs less than actual book. Another perk is that it's so much faster and simpler to acquire e-books. I have an app with hundreds of classics available with the click of a button, and I can also download so many from Gutenberg Project or the libraries.

 

[Aquila Chrysaetos]

I like the feel and smell of real books, especially a hardback. I collect books so my house is full of them. I especially like to collect more scholarly books on birds of prey and miniature unabridged editions of classics.

 

[St. Helens]

Real books. You can't hold an E-book and they are hard on the eyes. I have a collection of miniature unabridged classics as well. I have a collection of aviation books.

 

[muddleglum]

e-books.
10. Having several volumes open on the same desk is a pain.
9. I have moved often in my life (like 20 times in one 10 year stretch) and learned that carrying a lot of books means waving good bye to them. But, once I kept them in electronic format I could reduce my physical library and still have a large collection.
8. I have Linux OS (among others) which means I also have an app that allows me to circle words, highlight, etc. and keep the info "permanently" (if backed up)
7. I can find translations to foreign phrases quickly. Sabe?
6. I can look up a word quickly. I envy you more intelligent people, but when ya gotta, ya gotta.
5. I can cut and paste notes. True, this is rare for fiction, but it occasionally helps even there. No, I don't know if my recipient likes this ability.
4. I can look up things lightning fast. Sure I know about where things are in a book, but it still takes some thumbing through.
3. I can search easily. This is useful in studies.
2. My different electronic devices are in stable locations because I stand before high shelves. I can read without worrying about dropping my book. Normally, BTW, I often peruse Very Large Books. Know what happens when you drop one? <sob>
1. My eyesight is unusual and not really correctable. I can turn up the fonts of my screen and stand back to accommodate that.

I have Christian brothers who type for me because I'm non-hearing. At a recent wedding one brought his iPad and a keyboard. No problems. Ever try to read scribbles while someone is writing?

 

[Ada Lovelace]

I like the feel and smell of real books, especially a hardback. I collect books so my house is full of them. I especially like to collect more scholarly books on birds of prey and miniature unabridged editions of classics.

There are candles that actually smell like old books for nostalgic e-book readers, haha.

My Nana used to feel exactly the same way. Then she received an iPad loaded up with books for Christmas and was hooked. She does still like reading "real books" at night, though.

 

[Bobby H]

I was big into ebooks when they first started hitting it big a few years ago, but I've gone back to reading real books. When I'm reading an ebook, it's too easy to get distracted by notifications and such. It's also easy to get distracted by dictionary definitions of words and links to wikipedia articles when clicking on words/phrases/locations/famous people I'm not familiar with.

On the down side, I'm a little pickier these days about what physical books I want to keep around. Someday when I move again, I don't want to have to lug too much stuff around and risk injury.

 

[Maka]

Physical books, it's easier on my eyes.

 

[TheCasualCalifornian]

I still have a craving for physical books. I always like to have an actual novel in my hands. Ironically, I've been writing and publishing eBooks on Amazon Kindle since November 2014.

 

[Reep]

Physical books. I prefer the feel and look of them...however I am collecting so many now I'm running out of space (advantage eBooks then)