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Comment by Wildgoose | Hacker News Reader

I love my PaperWhite for reading fiction, but the quality of images and diagrams for non-fiction simply isn't good enough.

I regularly work away and the Kindle means I can find any quiet nook in a pub in which to read without needing to care about the ambient lighting. Even better, I have an illuminated screen that isn't shining a blue-bright light in my eyes that will disturb my sleep.

We need better performing (faster and higher resolution) screens along with more care taken to format texts for reading on an e-reader - the latter is being addressed by Standard eBooks which is a Gutenberg project to address typographical quirks and generally provide a better eBook reading experience.

We aren't there yet, but we are getting there.

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I also use my Kindle for reading fiction, but not for non-fiction.

My holdup with non-fiction is that I find that the experience of reading a physical book helps me learn more effectively. I can write in the margins, underline, and dog ear pages. I can flip back and forth to reference previous chapters or notes, based on the visual cue of those markings and folds. And all of these books are mine forever, for me to reference years later.

I’m sure eBook readers will continue to get better and better, but for non-fiction books I plan to reference in the future, a physical book will be hard experience for eBook readers to beat.

It's interesting, I love ebooks readers for the same reason: I can highlight passages of the books, write notes, create as many bookmarks as I want and I can review and manage everything from the software perspective without having to wonder "Am I missing any note I made...?".

All great points. Perhaps this is a good example of how there isn’t a one-size-fits-all optimal way to learn :p

I also find that, for things like cookbooks and guidebooks, Post-it notes and the like work more effectively than bookmarks do. Pretty much the only time I buy those types of books in ebook format is when I find them for free or very cheap.

I think that the fact that the display refresh rate is slow, leads to less "information snacking" which is one the goals of the kindle.

As for resolution, I think large format readers are for that.

As for the kindle internal light - sure it's a good idea, but if it uses pulsed pwm light(a technique for led power control) - it's less than ideals because it's more tiring and for some people it creates headaches etc.

Slight correction: while Standard Ebooks usually (but not always) uses Gutenberg sources, it’s not a related project.

> higher resolution) screens

Is the new Kindle Oasis 2017 with a 7" 300ppi screen 'high resolution' enough?

Re fast screens, I think it's good that they are slow, otherwise I'd use those readers like my smartphone for surfing and other stuff which puts me more into ADD mode.

I don't think the screen is the issue - even on iPad or Android tablets the images are grainy, lowres and can't be zoomed or panned. The quality of the source is horrible.

Just FYI, some of the Paperwhite models have that same 300 ppi as the Oasis. There are 3 Paperwhite models, the original, a slight upgrade refresh a year or two later, and another upgrade a year or two after that which gave it the 300 ppi screen.

I have one - I'm not sure if it's the source or the screen but diagrams are generally annoyingly difficult to read on it. If you have a PDF or something you'd like me to try i'd be happy to take some photographs for you.

> i'd be happy to take some photographs for you.

Yes please! You could put them on Imgur. Thanks!

Sure... link me to something you want to see on it.

https://imgur.com/

Link me to something you'd like to see on it, not where you would like me to upload it. A pdf of diagrams or similar as we discussed.

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