Also, I like to give people books I've read as gifts. One night at SFO flying to the UK I was with a colleague and I had a battered copy of "Antifragile" which I was able to hand to him so he could read it on the flight. No messing with technology; no thinking about what lending restrictions there were; no thinking about whether his technology was compatible with mine.
I've also written two books and there's nothing like being able to give signed copies to people.
(I do have another option for technical books -- the Asian editions. They're cheap, but the coverage is spotty: I bought the C Tiger book a couple of years ago, but all because I couldn't find the ML one.)
There are no libraries I can visit in this city. There's a nice readers club in Karachi (sort of like Netflix for DVDs, except it's for books), but I don't live in Karachi. So, I hoard non-technical books. There are a few good bookstores where I live, and I tend to buy a lot faster than I read -- all because I'm afraid the next time I visit the store I won't find a copy of what I want. I've raided a lot of used bookstores, and bought books I'd never have imagined finding again, like the old CYOA series.
Shipping from Amazon is expensive -- $6.99 per shipment + $6.99 per book. Amazon.co.uk is slightly cheaper for larger shipments: £5.49 per shipment + £2.99 per book. Amazon.in, right next door to me, doesn't ship internationally. Powell's is about the same as Amazon.
I funded the Singularity & Co Kickstarter earlier this year, and that gives me access to a bunch of older stuff, as ebooks. I haven't ordered from baenebooks.com yet; their catalog doesn't have a lot of Tor books I want.
I prefer digital version for technical stuff, because it's often hard to get hardcopied version (e.g. for documentation) and the content will most probably expire in a year or two. The only technical books I buy in paper are those that don't expire, like "Introduction to Automata Theory, Languages, and Computation" (Hopcroft, Ullman).
On the other hand, I read novels almost exclusively on paper.
It all boils down to this: I only have so much spare place to keep paper, so I keep in paper only those that I will want to keep for ten years.
I also must say I got some mirror glasses last year (http://ecx.images-amazon.com/images/I/61HShDnJT6L._SL1200_.j...) and while ridiculous, they're damn convenient sometimes.
If there is no audio book, an ebook is the most convenient. I usually upload the text to my server and make it a big font on a dark background so I can read on any device anywhere (since it's only text, even 2G internet suffices). Any laptop, desktop, tablet, smartphone or even a feature phone with GPRS internet works. And I can then link it to friends also if I want to show them something.
But of course a real book is a real book. I like holding it as much as anyone, but like a superb meal that takes 3 hours to prepare, it's just too much of a hassle most of the time.
I should mention that I don't really read non-fiction. It's not in the question but most people here probably read a lot of technical stuff. I've never really worked that way (following tutorials or reading learning books when not required by school); instead I google what I want to know and learn the ins and outs by experimenting, taking from tutorials only the parts and pieces I need. Not sure how common this is, but it works for me.
(1) My physical bookshelves function as a kind of spatial/visual memory for me, with different ideas associated to different locations on the shelves. Switching to Kindle only seems like it would destroy much of that memory.
(2) When having friends around, the shelves are a great way of starting conversation, and discovering new shared interests. This is possible also with things like Goodreads, but the connections made lose some intimacy.
Does anyone have any ways of addressing these problems?
It's definitely not perfect but I wish more books went the DVD model where if you buy the physical disk version, you can also get a digital license. Without really having to buy both separately.
I'd love to have to have access to the contents of my books regardless where they are, while still enjoying them physically when I can.
Unfortunately the current electronic versions are buried in DRM and sold merely as limited licenses to the content.
These days I tend to get physical books when:
* They're significantly better "things". I have some lovely books that are lovely objects in of themselves. Well typeset, bound well, quality paper, folios, etc. For example my hardcover of "The Timeless Way Of Building" is a beautiful object — as well as a wonderful book. I like having beautiful objects around me.
* When the format doesn't work as an e-book. For example Stephen Cole's "The Geometry of Type" would be completely useless to me as an ebook. As would most of my books on photography art and architecture. They're not just lumps of text that can be trivially reflowed. This is something that might change if we get some really high-quality A3 portable ebook reader type things in the future.
* When I can't get them as an ebook. There is still a stupid about of immensely useful content out there that you cannot get in ebook format. For example I'm currently finishing up a re-read of Victor Papanek's "Design for the Real World". Which you cannot get as an ebook.
That said — my default for fiction/reference purchases tends to be ebooks now. With occasional upgrades to paper books if they're something I really liked and I can get a "nice" physical edition.
I only buy the Kindle edition of books that are purely text and/or throwaway (= I won't open it ever again), typically management, self-help books.
Also, I buy physical versions of fun books that I read before going to sleep, because I don't want anything digital (= capable of displaying notifications) in my hand when I'm preparing to go to sleep.
I have rather dark pictures of a world where inconvenient knowledge is deleted, and the agencies involved know who's had a copy and if they've read it.
Some of these are fixable by stripping the DRM out of the things. But I don't see why I'd give my money to support people doing things I don't like that much for the privilege of trying to undo what they've done.
If I bought an ebook and the file was delivered in a reasonable plain-text format, and was mine in the same sense that a book was... If I was ensured that the device wasn't a massive backdoor... yeah, I'd probably buy myself an ereader and consume most of my books that way. But, as things are at the moment? I wouldn't use the things even if I was paid to.
I view it as little different to inviting someone with a camera and an incinerator to sit beside me as a I read.
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1. http://www.nytimes.com/2009/07/18/technology/companies/18ama...
2. https://www.eff.org/deeplinks/2010/12/2010-e-book-buyers-gui...
I cannot read paper anymore. I'm buying the digital versions of the few ones I have in paper I haven't read yet.
Besides, nothing like cleaning my living room, all books, music and movies on a device that fits in my pocket!
Equally important is the highlight (yeah, can be done on paper too) and search functionality. Once I basically had to read the book again looking for a passage. I knew the contents of the passage, but I did not knew where in the book it was.
Some categories, like photography, design, art, etc. still don't go well in digital format, though.
DRM sucks. Not the paying part, but just how it makes our lives miserable. Also, don't understand when digital copies cost more than hard-copies (especially for text-only books).
I've gotten into photography recently, and those books are very hard to translate to a digital format, due to the layout. Those are the only ones I buy physical, the experience is good, but it's frustrating enough that I prefer digital.
The approach is wrong. Most of us have not left the physical objects behind. It's still too soon. It's like wanting to use an iPad with keyboards, it's "wrong".
I don't use page turning, or page by page, taping left or right. I use scroll. And despite what I read, to me it's the best. I don't have to move my eye or my head. It's the text that moves. I also chose the font (Verdana or similar whenever possible, I don't like serif fonts).
Because of the problem with the lights coming from the device, I use the sepia mode (white on black is also not good). That's is also one of the reasons I don't like the bigger iPad. The iPad mini is the ideal size, as the kindle, I suppose. I don't like to have or carry many things, so now I only use an iPhone plus.
The longer something is used, the longer it will take for it to be displaced.
Paper-books been round for thousands of years. ;)
Besides, as good as digital reader devices are, they have serious drawbacks. For example quick browsing, retarded DRM restrictions (why can't I give my book to someone else, ffs?!), and they still aren't as nice on the eyes as paper books.
Not to mention that they need electricity and each book I read is another data-point in my profile on some nebulous company's (or gov-agency's) server.
That said, they have advantages when it comes to search. But often we kind of memorise the "shape" of the text, so this advantage isn't as great. (Just like source-code editors sometimes show a miniature version of the text for quicker navigation.)
And they also weigh less. But they don't look as good on the shelves..
to me, heavy books aren't 'nice additions' but 'more strain to my back and neck'
I actively did NOT enjoy slugging around my calculus books or actuarial mathematics books with me ...
My kindle has made me read more. It also has reached it's 'break even' point in terms of value bought (10+ books read).
To this day, I much prefer the look, feel and smell of printed paper, but storing books became a major headache for me, as I had so many, tended to live in small dwellibng, and was moving quite frequently. Ebooks solve this problem completely. Moreover I mostly read books to do something with their content, to transform it, to think about it. Searching paper books, even when they have a good index (a rare occurence), is incomparably slower than 'grepping' through my electronic texts. The ability easily to cut-and-paste is also helpful. As others have pointed out, Ebooks, at least on the devices I use to consume them, have one disadvantage: the infinite amount of discraction that internet connectivity brings. But there are work-arounds.
For these reasons, I won't be going back to paper.
Although I still buy some physical books, I have switched to ebooks for all of my "disposable" reading. If I expect to read a book only once and won't use it for reference later, I'll get an ebook.
After a few months with a Kindle, I did notice an interesting change in my own behaviour. Because I always have the kindle with me, I can read any book anywhere and any time, without having to plan ahead. As a result, I have started reading books at times where I would otherwise have browsed HN or blogs.
Perhaps books are a bit like cameras that way: the best one is the one you have with you.
And children's books, I buy all of them in print.
Perhaps things might change if we get larger, colour e-readers. I don't find reading books on a tablet comfortable for long periods.
Usually, it's long tail (specialist), older books. Sometimes, surprising ones: Lee Kuan Yew's arguably most famous book, "From Third World to First" is only available in paperback or hardback (some of his later writings are available for Kindle).
As much as I'd love all media to become digital, physical books map what you are reading to physical stimuli which seems to help anchor the communication into your brain.
Apart from the debate raging on about grabbing/absorbing more from a physical book than an ebook, I feel that I'm simply more attached to the physical aspect of the reading experience.
I've read ebooks when I've been unable to find the hard copies, but I almost always revert to the hard copies.
That said if I could I would go 100% digital because the books are both cheaper and you can carry an entire library with you.
The main reasons for my switch is: easier to see what I have read or not, the tactile feeling, the thrill of getting the book (when ordering online :), my old eyes sigh has it easier with books.
If it is a "timeless" book, like one of the Great Books, then maybe.
I'd probably cut them all apart and digitize them (there's a 100 books for $100 scanning deal).
For Technical books I prefer digital books since I would love to try out examples almost immediately as they appear in the book.
Have you tested your learning from physical vs ebooks?
I recently bought "A Game Of Thrones" (book one in the series) by George R. R Martin.
It's just something different.
For faculty and reference: Easily searchable digital media.
I prefer to read a good story in my bed, covered with blankets, and enjoy the paper under my fingers. However, when I read something scientific, or work related, I prefer eBooks; I'll be at my computer anyway, and this allows me to research the subject I'm reading about in more depth.
The fonts, layout, smell, texture, random access, color, heft, everything!
AbeBooks is now my go to for physical books.