This is more of a poll, but which do you prefer? An old fashioned curl up next to a fire turning pages book or a new e-reader that you can hold like ten million books on?
Definitely a book. I love the smell of unturned pages. I love to have library h
That people can thumb through to find a book to borrow an electronic file can never replace a book infront of a warm fire.
I definitely agree, I am such a reader and I love the smell and feel of unturned pages as well. I want to have a humongous library in my house when I get older. I recently got a Nook for my graduation and as convenient as it it, I still buy every single book both as a e- book and a book. Also its such a pain to refer back to a previous page as easy as it is when your holding a book.
For the actual reading experience I prefer a real book, but when you consider convenience I prefer my Kindle, on the whole.
I prefer physical books; I don’t own an e-reader for several reasons, that being one of them. I have read the occasional book on my PC.
+1
I’m waiting for a decent book reader for a smart phone. I love reading news, magazine articles and stuff like the Dope on my phone. Books still suck ass on the smart phone.
eReaders might win me over if the pricing changed to something more reasonable.
for now, a real book
I’m an electronic convert.
I’m on the go a lot, and I love love love having a library on me at all times. I hated lugging books around with me everywhere.
Plus, I like to read under covers. my iPhone is perfect for that.
I hate the idea of reading on a screen and the idea of scrolling…whenever I read on a screen, I just feel like I’m scrolling too fast to actually enjoy it.
Plus the smell, the feel…I’m paper all the way.
On a Kindle you don’t have to scroll.
I don’t really care about the feel nor smell of a book, but what I do like is the ability to jump ahead pages really quickly. I wish the Kindle had page numbers and not locations.
But overall I prefer my Kindle. I just wish I had one when I used to deploy. Carrying four heavy books along with body armor and clothes was a pain in the ass. I love that it’s just a very light thing with hundreds of books for me to choose from.
eta: Plus I don’t have to go to a bookstore. I remember I once drove to two different bookstores across town to find a book. I just ended up downloading it to my phone. I was reading it in less than a minute.
I prefer a good paper book to my e-reader. Meaning, a well-printed, nice in the hands book. However, a really heavy Stephen King book or a smudgily printed pulp paperback? Kindle please!
Yes, please.
I love physical books, and I love the experience of reading a good old-fashioned paper book—provided it isn’t too big and bulky, or stiff and hard to hold open, or creased-covered and worn-out. In those cases, an e-reader may provide a superior reading experience. And I do love the convenience of being able to easily carry lots of books with me, and all the free books that are available.
Either is much preferable to trying to read more than a page or two on a computer screen.
This. The only reason I go to book stores now is because it’s either not available on the Kindle, or to give me ideas of which books to buy for my Kindle.
The first e-book I got was Stephen King’s Under the Dome. Lugging that book onto planes and stuff woulda been a pain.
Also, I tried to read some books on my iPhone, but for some reason I never got into it. Love reading on my Kindle though.
Real book, all the way. I’ll get one of those e-book things when I have absolutely no choice in the matter. (“No sir, I’m sorry, but the Griffen Poetry Prize Winner for 2020 is only available as an e-book.”)
Can you at least print from those Goddamn e-book things?
If you said “here’s one book and you’re going to spend an evening reading on the couch: want paper or kindle?” I would take paper every time.
If you said “here’s books and you’re going to read the way you really do” and Kindle wins without a backward glance.
If you said “Hey, what was that quote from about LBJ that one of those books you read sometime last year” and I’ll wonder how I ever lived with just paper and no full text search for everything I’ve read.
I’m completely addicted to the instant gratification of ebooks. Read an intriguing book review? Within seconds of getting to the Amazon page, you are reading it. Brilliant.
I prefer paper books because they are disposable. I mostly read on a beach (summer cabin or winter getaway), so I don’t want to be concerned about getting the book wet or full of sand. I don’t reread books, so I don’t collect books. All my books are second hand copies that I’ve paid a pittance for, or gotten through book exchanges, or books others have passed on to me. Once I read a book, I pass it along or abandon the book in whatever location I’m in when I finish reading it.
I like my books. I like that I can take it anywhere and it won’t break. I like that if I lose it, it is cheap to replace. I love going to a bookstore (although I end up spending too much money.)
I thought I would hate my kindle because I love holding a book a turning the pages but then I got one and all those thoughts went away. My kindle is light and easy to hold no more turning pages I have over a hundred books in my hand all at once. It fits in my purse and I can carry it everywhere I go. It is the best and yes I am the type to drop thing so I have the rubber case around it like I do with my touch phone and it hasn’t broken. It is the best.
There’s something pretty awe-inspiring about walking into a room filled with books, and I get a bit of that every time I walk into my library. The physical presence and volume of books lining the walls is something I won’t give up.
…and then I sit in my comfy library chair and pick up one of my eBook devices or a netbook. Go figure. The electronic ink screens of modern eBooks are a godsend that finally make electronic devices viable replacements for standard print (I have a Sony Bookman and Data Discman from the early 90s, along with a number of book CDs for them, but their uncomfortable LCD displays really hammer home the need for proper displays). I do still read normal books (especially in the bath), and prefer dead trees for puzzle books, but I find eBooks mostly preferable.