Reasons real books are better...

Nefret · Post by **Nefret** » Sat August 3rd, 2013, 10:16 pm

Just for fun. (Personally, I never read in the bath.)

http://www.buzzfeed.com/hnew92/10-reaso ... books-9qja

Misfit · Post by **Misfit** » Sat August 3rd, 2013, 11:04 pm

That was great, thank you.

Lisa · Post by **Lisa** » Sun August 4th, 2013, 8:12 pm

I totally agree about reading in the bath and on planes. That's why I always just take a book with me when travelling still, although if I was going on a long trip the Kindle would be better. Also, if travelling, I'd be less worried about losing a paperback than my Kindle.

But as for filling bookshelves? Noooo, I'm trying to cut mine down. I've given away about 20 books to charity in the past couple of months, and I still have an overflow of about 80-90 books that I can't fit on my shelves.

MLE (Emily Cotton) · Post by **MLE (Emily Cotton)** » Sun August 4th, 2013, 9:55 pm

What's the problem with reading in the bath? I read my kindle in the bath, the hot tub, and the spa at the gym. Just pop the thing in a ziplock bag.

For the record, I never read real books in the bath. I drop them too often. When I drop my ereader in its bag, I just fish it out and go on.

MLE (Emily Cotton) · Post by **MLE (Emily Cotton)** » Mon August 5th, 2013, 5:07 am

So I read the post. Hmm.
I love my kindle. I got one reluctantly two years ago, and now I am completely sold on the device.

I can blow up the text so I don't have to use reading glasses.

It weighs 6 ounces. (my kindle keyboard weights 8 ounces.)

Some of the points show the blogger's ignorance.

The bath issue I already mentioned. Since when is a paper book 'good as new' after being dropped in the tub? And my kindle doesn't steam up.

Kindles have 'airplane mode'. You can read them even when the crew have asked that electronic devices with internet be turned off.

I can read my kindle in the sun. It's e-ink. And I have a paperwhite, which moves seamlessly between e-ink and backlight, any level of brightness.

My battery lasts for ages. If I forget and it dies, I have a spare kindle. And I can continue reading the same book on my pc, on my laptop, on my phone.

I always lose p-books. I never lose e-books.

I don't want more books on my shelves. I've had a lifetime of crowded shelves, and now that I have cleared them, the freedom is exhilarating.

I can take 3,000 books on a packtrip in my daypack. I can take them to the airport, without going over the weight limit.

I can take all my personal research documents, too.

I can email my work to my kindle as I go along, and have it converted. If I need to think about a chapter I'm working on while I'm driving, I just have the kindle read it to me. The voice isn't too bad, and I catch missing articles (a, of, and the tend to get skipped by my busy fingers) and repeated words that my eye would just skip over in text form.

I can also email it to my beta readers, and they can make notes and send it back to me.

Another great advantage -- we have five kindles on one account. Which means that my Mom, sister, daughter-in-law and husband can all buy books and swap them amongst ourselves, or even read them simultaneously. And the kindle will play books from Amazon's Audible library.

I'm sure the nook has equally useful properties.

As of four months ago, 43% of adult fiction was being read on a device. In another two years, it'll be over 80%.

Lisa · Post by **Lisa** » Mon August 5th, 2013, 9:00 am

Some airlines are picky about electronic devices in flight mode - last time I flew with KLM they didn't care, and I kept reading my Kindle in flight mode as we landed. Hoewver, British Airways insists that everything is turned off, even if in flight mode, even my really basic MP3 player which has no radio connection or anything. And we all know there's no point in trying to argue a point on a plane

sweetpotatoboy · Post by **sweetpotatoboy** » Mon August 5th, 2013, 9:17 am

Firstly, I don't remember ever being asked to turn off either my very basic mp3player or my Kindle at any point during a flight, although I've been prepared to be and always have a physical book with me just in case. I guess it does depend on each airline.

Secondly, I must confess to reading in the bath most days (one of the reasons I prefer baths over showers). I used to only read newspapers or magazines in the bath. But now I do read my Kindle in the bath and not in a bag. I have yet to come even close to dropping it. It's in a sturdy leather case, so not slippery, and I kind of hold it to one side slightly out of the bath. I also read physical books in the bath too, but only secondhand editions that I wouldn't be too upset if they got a bit damaged.

Mythica · Post by **Mythica** » Mon August 5th, 2013, 10:18 am

[quote=""sweetpotatoboy""]Firstly, I don't remember ever being asked to turn off either my very basic mp3player or my Kindle at any point during a flight, although I've been prepared to be and always have a physical book with me just in case. I guess it does depend on each airline.[/quote]

Well, every airline I've been on has always asked that all electronic devices be turned off. However, eInk devices use so little electricity that a lot of airlines let it slide. I've continued reading my Kindle during take off and landing and no one has ever asked me to turn it off. If they ever did, I wouldn't make a scene and argue, so I always bring a magazine to flip through instead.

Anyway, this article just illustrates how most critics of ereaders are speaking out of ignorance. The bath one has already been debunked, the airplane one at least half debunked. The sun issue only applies to back lit screens, not eInk so that's debunked too. Books don't die? Neither do ebooks. An ereader might die but your ebooks can be (or automatically are) backed up so if you just get another ereader, your ebooks are always still there. Furthermore, books can die if there's a fire or water damage or if the binding comes apart. But my ebooks will always be backed up on Amazon's cloud so if there's a fire or flood (knock on wood), I can always access them again. Another myth debunked.

And personally, I just don't understand some of them - it's more rewarding to finish a long book? How? I get the same sense of accomplishment because I've read the same amount of content! Books inspire tattoos? I've never met someone with a book tattoo and frankly I don't see why this is so important. I never wanted a tattoo of a book to begin with so why do I care? People get tattoos of skulls too - does that mean we should all worship skulls?

And ultimately, ebooks and books don't have to be mutually exclusive. Just because I own an ereader doesn't mean I can't buy a paper book too. So if I want to get a book signed, I'll just buy a paper book. There is no need for all these snarky, smug looking gifs. I don't get it - if ereaders aren't for you, don't use them. Problem solved! Why does anyone care so much what other people use to read?

To me, a lot of these points just sound like they're grasping at straws. If these are the best reasons they can come up with, when half of them are wrong and the other half don't make much sense, it's pretty clear that paper books are not "better". There is no "better" - whatever you like to read on, just keep reading. I don't care how people read, why should anyone else care how I read? Why all the animosity?

Susan · Post by **Susan** » Mon August 5th, 2013, 1:05 pm

I agree with MLE. I read my Kindle Fire in the sun this weekend. All I did was make the screen brighter. I got a Kindle because I have so many wonderful books in many bookshelves in several rooms and I was running out of space. If I want a hard-covered book, I buy it. For instance, I always buy hard covers of Sharon Penman's books and she always comes to a bookstore within driving distance of me (she's a Jersey girl like me!) and I get the book signed.

Lisa · Post by **Lisa** » Mon August 5th, 2013, 1:52 pm

Yeah, I'm now trying to save my bookshelf space for my favourite books, or really old books (Coronet paperbacks with hilarious covers!), or rare books, or signed books if I ever get any (no-one ever comes to where I live

). So the Kindle is great for saving space.

Also, the free and very cheap books! Ok certainly not all of the free books are brilliant, but you do get some bargains that you wouldn't get with 'real' books.