Reading on paper or screen

[Edward]

You don't. It was an exaggeration of the fact that I may want to have 10 with me on a vacation. 10 books in my bag - even paperbacks - is ridiculous!
I can take books with me camping - cooking, emergency medical info, maps, you name it. All books aren't fiction - lots of what I have are reference. And one thing about e-books, they can have video and other helpful things paper books don't. I don't read romance novels
My daughter is in med school - almost all her books are on the iPad now. She's gone from an 80-pound bag to one device plus one or two books. Can't beat that.

I believe we're gonig to see much more take-up of eBooks in the educational text market over the next number of years. When I was at University myself, noone had a laptop - now most undergraduate kids come to my classes with one and take all their notes on it. There is a generation coming up who aren't tied to the idea of the tangible the way we are - kids to whom the norm is to buy your music as a download, and your movies, and whatever.

You are talking about specialized circumstances; holidays and your daughter's studies, where reading on screen suits you better.

I am talking for average home use, where a vast number of people would certainly prefer a proper book.

I don't believe "real" books will disappear any time soon, but certainly eBooks will increase significantly in popularity for certain purposes, especially if they get cheaper (currently for a new release they're often the same price as a paperback).

[Cricket]

I love holding, reading, smelling books. But here is another aspect I look at it from:

I have two children. Everyday they pile next to me on the bed or curl up with me in my recliner while I read them a book. We typically shoot to read a book for at least 20 minutes everyday. It may be "old timey" or whatever but there is something about holding your children and a book together that makes it a moment for both parties. I don't think it would have that special feeling if I was holding a hand-held device.

Also, along the lines of reading with our children, there is a joy in loading up the kids to the library on a saturday afternoon to pick out their new book. It's exciting for children to run their fingers over the spines of books, and it's exiciting for me to see them happy about reading. Don't think it would be the same if they were clicking a mouse and waiting for it to download at home.

[Nathan Dodge]

I prefer actual books over ebooks but the fact is that not many of the former are being published in subjects I enjoy these days. It's a rare thing indeed when a paper book interests me nowadays. I have built up a decent reference book collection over the decades, though. As a result of the decline of good published reference books, much of my reading is done online.

Also, even though I read quite a bit, I don't do it for enjoyment; I read strictly for information (this includes fiction). I don't own a Kindle* or any other portable electronic reading device and really have no interest in getting one, but then I don't have a cellular phone, either.




*Kindle: To burn, light up. As in books? Nah...it can't happen here!

[AmateisGal]

The tangibility of books is a wonderful thing. I can look at my shelves right now and see books I've had for thirty or forty years right alongside books I just got last week. It's like having your whole life on a shelf, available for immediate review, with no batteries or software upgrades required. And Amazon can't come along in the dark of night and delete them, either.

AMEN. My books are like old friends. I have them in almost every room of my house (except for the kitchen).

Another thing that I really hate (and this is probably from my freelance job) is scrolling through pages instead of just turning physical pages. My eyes start to go cross-eyed after awhile.

[AmateisGal]

I certainly believe there is room for both e-books and actual, physical books. I just prefer the latter at this point in my life.

[Tatum]

Hubby bought me an iPad for work. He and our CFO have one. It's for getting documents signed out in the field and conserving paper. What do we all do at home, however? Read on them! (And surf the Lounge, of course.)

I love real books, we still have a ridiculously large collection of reference, biographies, fiction, etc. Hubby just bought a sci-fi that isn't in ebook version yet, and he mentioned how much he does love physical books. But I love that I can open my book and read a few pages while waiting on a client, as I have my iPad on me for said client to sign when he does show up. The other beautiful thing about it (this doesn't work on a Kindle, mind you, since it is not backlit) is the iPad has this feature where you can make the screen black and the type white, so no need for a bright screen or a reading light in bed. I have slept much better, and haven't had to ask hubby to kill the light so I can, since we got them. That, by far, has been the biggest plus. Can also read the same thing at the same time if we really want to, or "swap" a book when we're hundreds of miles away from each other.

I have also found that all the reference books I have wanted lately are cheaper as ebook versions!

[TidiousTed]

I love holding, reading, smelling books. But here is another aspect I look at it from:

I have two children. Everyday they pile next to me on the bed or curl up with me in my recliner while I read them a book. We typically shoot to read a book for at least 20 minutes everyday. It may be "old timey" or whatever but there is something about holding your children and a book together that makes it a moment for both parties. I don't think it would have that special feeling if I was holding a hand-held device.

Also, along the lines of reading with our children, there is a joy in loading up the kids to the library on a saturday afternoon to pick out their new book. It's exciting for children to run their fingers over the spines of books, and it's exiciting for me to see them happy about reading. Don't think it would be the same if they were clicking a mouse and waiting for it to download at home.

Scandinavian studies show clearly that children who have been read for regularly will do better in school than those who were not read for. I read for my two daughters every evening before they went to bed when they were kids. And when we go to my weekend cottage together, which we often do, we still do but now we read for each other.

[Undertow]

Printed only, please. I realize there are conveniences and benefits to e-books but I don't need to be convinced.

[LizzieMaine]

*Kindle: To burn, light up. As in books? Nah...it can't happen here!

The ultimate in hipster irony: reading Fahrenheit 451 on a Kindle.

[ButteMT61]

Printed only, please. I realize there are conveniences and benefits to e-books but I don't need to be convinced.

Didn't realize this thread was meant to convince people to go either way.
Just a discussion on differing opinions.
Do as you like and enjoy it.