# Which dead-tree book format do you prefer? **URL:** \ **Category:** Cafe Society\ **Created:** [August 16, 2011, 9:11pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/which-dead-tree-book-format-do-you-prefer/592953 "2011-08-16T21:11:47Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 15\ **Page:** 2
**Author:** ![An\_Gadai](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/d6d6ee/32.png) [@An\_Gadai](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/An_Gadai)\ **Post date:** [August 17, 2011, 3:31am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/which-dead-tree-book-format-do-you-prefer/592953/21 "2011-08-17T03:31:07Z")
> [@NoClueBoy](#): > > Yeah, I hate it when sigs fall out of my books. > > When I was a kid (60s -70s), I could get paperbacks from the library that had been checked out scores of times and they were still in readable condition. Now, unless I buy the slightly pricier trade PBs, I can’t even finish the book myself with bits falling out of it. Grrr. > > Even tho I have e-books for my tablet and laptop, I still like holding a plain ol’ simple paperback when by the pool. I get the impression that British/Irish paperbacks are generally of a higher quality to American ones. An American book of the same page amount will be lighter usually. ---
**Author:** ![jabiru](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/bbce88/32.png) [@jabiru](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/jabiru)\ **Post date:** [August 17, 2011, 4:18am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/which-dead-tree-book-format-do-you-prefer/592953/22 "2011-08-17T04:18:27Z")
> [@Chronos](#): > > For really special books, hardback. But for most books, the cheaper they are, the more of them I can buy. And more books is good. A bibliophile after my own heart. ---
**Author:** ![Becky2844](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/91b2a8/32.png) [@Becky2844](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Becky2844)\ **Post date:** [August 17, 2011, 4:57am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/which-dead-tree-book-format-do-you-prefer/592953/23 "2011-08-17T04:57:00Z")
This specification is so exquisite it makes me want to pee. ---
**Author:** ![Lynn\_Bodoni](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/e47c2d/32.png) [@Lynn\_Bodoni](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Lynn_Bodoni)\ **Post date:** [August 17, 2011, 5:08am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/which-dead-tree-book-format-do-you-prefer/592953/24 "2011-08-17T05:08:38Z")
I prefer mass market paperbacks, if they aren’t so cheap that they fall apart before I’ve finished reading them. Trade paperbacks and hardbacks are simply too large for my taste. I enjoy putting books in my purse to take with me. When I’m reading in bed, or anywhere that is not at a table or desk, anything bigger than a mass market paperback is too big for me to hold comfortably. Apparently, my hands are smaller than average adult size, enough so that the trade PBs just don’t work well for me. In addition, hardbacks almost always have those damned dust jackets. There’s no practical way to deal with DJs, you can’t store them separately from the book, and if you throw them away or damage them you significantly reduce the book’s resale value. Usually I don’t sell books, but in the event that I get another copy as a gift, or if I absolutely hate the book, I want the option of reselling it. ---
**Author:** ![jabiru](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/bbce88/32.png) [@jabiru](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/jabiru)\ **Post date:** [August 17, 2011, 5:24am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/which-dead-tree-book-format-do-you-prefer/592953/25 "2011-08-17T05:24:35Z")
> [@Lynn\_Bodoni](#): > > Trade paperbacks and hardbacks are simply too large for my taste. I enjoy putting books in my purse to take with me. When I’m reading in bed, or anywhere that is not at a table or desk, anything bigger than a mass market paperback is too big for me to hold comfortably. Apparently, my hands are smaller than average adult size, enough so that the trade PBs just don’t work well for me… I also have trouble holding hardcover books in bed. Paperbacks won’t stay open while I’m eating, unless I weigh down the pages with the salt and pepper shakers or similar. My handbag is plenty heavy enough without adding the extra weight of a hardcover book. Enter the Kindle … I originally bought mine so I could take it with me without the added weight but I find myself reading it in bed because of the lightness of the kindle and the ease of turning the pages. (Yes, I know this thread is about dead-tree format books. I still buy them as well.) ---
**Author:** ![Snowboarder\_Bo](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/snowboarder_bo/32/229_2.png) [@Snowboarder\_Bo](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Snowboarder_Bo)\ **Post date:** [August 17, 2011, 6:41am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/which-dead-tree-book-format-do-you-prefer/592953/26 "2011-08-17T06:41:40Z")
Hardcover books, preferably first edition. I’ll only buy trade paperback or mass-market paperback if nothing else is available and the book is “must have”. ---
**Author:** ![Tapiotar](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/3be4f8/32.png) [@Tapiotar](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Tapiotar)\ **Post date:** [August 17, 2011, 11:06am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/which-dead-tree-book-format-do-you-prefer/592953/27 "2011-08-17T11:06:17Z")
Depends on the book. If it’s light or frivolous, a one-time read, I’ll go mass market or e-read, whichever is cheaper. If it looks like a good work of fiction, I prefer trade, for the higher quality of paper, ink, and binding, and the larger type size. If it’s by an author I love, or if it’s something I can’t wait for the paper edition to come out, then hardcover. In non-ficiton, I’ll buy either trade paper or hardcover, since they require more handling and though. I have some old mass-markets from decades back, when type sizes were small. Yikes! They were easy to read back then, but much harder to read now. I’ve had out library editions from the 1940’s, when conservation of paper was an urgent issue, and the print was tiny. Older readers must have had to use magnifying glasses. ---
**Author:** ![Suil\_Dubh](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/85f322/32.png) [@Suil\_Dubh](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Suil_Dubh)\ **Post date:** [August 17, 2011, 11:51am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/which-dead-tree-book-format-do-you-prefer/592953/28 "2011-08-17T11:51:41Z")
Like **jabiru** and **Tapiotar** , for me it also depends on the book. If the book is a classic of its genre, I’d rather have it in hardback. There’s just something so sexy about an excellent novel captured in a nice hardback edition. This goes for academic books as well. If it’s a book I’m going to use and refer to over the course of many years, I’d prefer to have it in hardback. Not because a hardback version is more durable, but just because I prefer the aesthetic. Hardbacks from _The Folio Society_ are a good example of the kind of book I like to own. > **[Beautifully Illustrated Hardcover Books | Folio Society](https://www.foliosociety.com/)** > > Discover The Folio Society. The world's most extensive selection of beautifully illustrated books. The perfect gift. Find out more. ---
**Author:** ![Nava](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/n/da6949/32.png) [@Nava](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Nava)\ **Post date:** [August 17, 2011, 11:58am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/which-dead-tree-book-format-do-you-prefer/592953/29 "2011-08-17T11:58:26Z")
Pocket-sized paperback. Which is one of the reasons I’m moving to e-books, Spanish publishers are doing their best to swear paperbacks off and I dislike having to lug around a heavy, easy-read-sized book that weighs as much as my computer. Stupid publishers! Even the paperbacks are printed on easy-read sizes, making them more fragile than hardcovers but as much of a pain to lug around. There used to be a sort of middle-ground binding, sort of a thinner hardcover. Many of the books at my mother’s have this binding, some of them are tiny and printed on Bible paper. I can’t recall ever having seen that kind of binding in an actual bookstore, though. ---
**Author:** ![Barkis\_is\_Willin](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/a183cd/32.png) [@Barkis\_is\_Willin](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Barkis_is_Willin)\ **Post date:** [August 17, 2011, 12:45pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/which-dead-tree-book-format-do-you-prefer/592953/30 "2011-08-17T12:45:20Z")
If I were choosing a format for my all time favorite books, I’d go with hardcover. A well-put-together hardcover just falls right open, the ink is clear, the paper is high quality. Granted, I usually toss the jacket off to the side while I’m reading it, but that is only a minor inconvenience for the upgrade in quality. Of course, I’ll often pick up a mass market paperback for the lower cost. ---
**Author:** ![Clothahump](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/51bf81/32.png) [@Clothahump](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Clothahump)\ **Post date:** [August 17, 2011, 5:31pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/which-dead-tree-book-format-do-you-prefer/592953/31 "2011-08-17T17:31:49Z")
I prefer paperbacks that fit in my hip pocket. But I gotta admit - even though it doesn’t fit in my back pocket, I’m loving my Kindle. ---
**Author:** ![Khadaji](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/k/9e8a1a/32.png) [@Khadaji](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Khadaji)\ **Post date:** [August 17, 2011, 9:16pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/which-dead-tree-book-format-do-you-prefer/592953/32 "2011-08-17T21:16:15Z")
If it is a book I really want, I buy the first of whatever version comes out - hardback, paperback, whichever. If it is already in paperback, I get that. Unless I know I’ll want to keep it a long time. Then back to the hardback. ---
**Author:** ![keeganst94](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/k/a6a055/32.png) [@keeganst94](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/keeganst94)\ **Post date:** [August 17, 2011, 9:31pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/which-dead-tree-book-format-do-you-prefer/592953/33 "2011-08-17T21:31:04Z")
If they were all the same price, trade paperback. They’re better quality than mass-market, and they’re not as heavy and awkward as a hardcover. However, I’m cheap, so I generally go with mass-market paperback, because the other types are usually almost twice as expensive. ---
**Author:** ![TBG](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/c89c15/32.png) [@TBG](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/TBG)\ **Post date:** [August 18, 2011, 7:13pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/which-dead-tree-book-format-do-you-prefer/592953/34 "2011-08-18T19:13:28Z")
Hardcover, but it’s not a strong preference. Mainly because they’re more durable. I hate how even carefully reading a paperback can sometimes leave the spine looking a wreck. Between mass market and trade, not really sure I’ve ever read a trade (other than a few comic book collections - no they aren’t graphic novels!) or even seen them offered for the books I read. ---
**Author:** ![JoelUpchurch](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/f05b48/32.png) [@JoelUpchurch](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/JoelUpchurch)\ **Post date:** [August 18, 2011, 9:20pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/which-dead-tree-book-format-do-you-prefer/592953/35 "2011-08-18T21:20:31Z")
I like the free ones I get at the library. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/which-dead-tree-book-format-do-you-prefer/592953.md?page=1)