Well, I prefer reading an actual book. There is a kind of physical connection between me and my books. I guess it is going to sound very weird but, I love touching the pages, that I read. Imagine an ancient book with original handwriting; it would be amazing to feel it.

i cannot stand e-books. It is so much nicer to hold a book in your hands and read than it is to read from a screen. i love collecting old, rare books too, and with electronic readers, that's not possible. And of course, e-books don't smell nice

Blutiful wrote:Well, I prefer reading an actual book. There is a kind of physical connection between me and my books. I guess it is going to sound very weird but, I love touching the pages, that I read. Imagine an ancient book with original handwriting; it would be amazing to feel it.

The pages would be yellow and crinkly, it would smell, and if it was handwriting, probably hard to read.


....Just saying.

I don't have any personal experience of the Kindle or other electronic readers, but I'm leaning toward being against them on principle.

I view them as a land grab by the "Big Six" publishing houses (Random House/Bertelsmann, Macmillan/Holtzbrinck, Simon & Schuster/Viacom, HarperCollins Harcourt/News Corp., Penguin Group/Pearson, and the Time Warner Book Group/Hachette). Most independent publishers are in no position to digitize their catalog, even when they're fairly sizable publishers like Routledge, to say nothing of City Lights, Grove, New Directions, Soft Skull Press, Seven Stories Press, AK Press, and thousands of other small publishers. So the only information that will be available, in the event of a mass switch to e-readers, is the stuff that the major corporations thinks is suitable for the American public to have. That's hardly an expansive list and many great works of nonfiction and fiction alike would go by the wayside.

On the other hand, it does allow people to publish easier than ever before. All you need is a site with a server and plenty of stuff that is too independent, too genre-bending, or, in the worst case scenario, too badly written can find a home online. www.smashwords.com is one such site. (And for clarification's sake, I don't own the site or know anyone who publishes there.) In a way, that's something I might be prepared to welcome, except that I really do believe that there's value in authors running works through the wringer that only a real publishing house can provide. And while the "Big Six" have had a very bad effect in flattening out the terrain of contemporary fiction, so to speak, I do want independent publishers around that are able to exercise some sort of judgment in the kind of manuscripts they publish. Most of the online publishers don't do that.

So I can't even say that e-readers are good for allowing electronic publishing to flouish, because the electronic publishing industry is going to squeeze independent publishers from the bottom while the "Big Six" are squeezing them from the top.

banned

I've had my Nook for a few weeks now and just really got the chance to use it...in fact just yesterday I finished my first book on it. The actual reading experience is absolutely amazing - its the same as reading an actual book - actually its better - the book that I read had extremely small font in the actual paper book, on the Nook I was able to just enlarge the font and it was comfortable and easy to read.
The biggest draw back is that with the free wi fi access its way too easy to buy a book!! Just 2 clicks and its there...

Overall I love mine, it is clearly the wave of the future. That said there are improvements to be made - I think the overall experience would be better with a touch screen that allows you to "flick" the pages, a full color screen, some easier access to features, but really that's just little stuff that will come as the medium continues to evolve.

As I see it right now, there are only a few real issues that you might want to think about before purchasing one.
First, do you read in the pool/bathtub? Cause I'd be afraid to bring mine near the water....
Second, check either Amazon or Barnes and Noble and get a good idea of what titles are available as ebooks. If you read mainly bestsellers, well yeah the new Patterson or Dan Brown is going to be available, I myself read lots of off the wall stuff and was disappointed to see that the selection isn't really strongest there.

After jumping into the medium, I can honestly say its the way things are going to be done in the future. Whether that future is right now, I'm not sure. I'm very very happy with mine. After reading only 1 book on it, I can honestly say that I'll always own an ereader. In terms of what's out there the Nook fit me perfectly (and Barnes and Noble is doing lots to promote it, free classics, discounted books, etc). I know that the Kindle is popular, the Sony reader seems to be dying a slow death...The rumors are out there of an Apple ereader coming very soon....

Reading ebook devices in bathtub.

Seal it in a good-quality, clear ziplock plastic bag.

Turning the pages on ebook devices is easy with a press of a button.

Print books are also susceptible to water damage, but putting them in ziplock bags would make turning the pages difficult.

Chris Rippel

Any sane person takes a shower thereby actually cleansing the body, saving time while reducing overall water consumption.

I don't take baths, the water never stays warm for longer, and I just can't read comfortably in the tub. Plus my bathtub's kind of small, and not very comfy.

A shower is a substitute for "taking a bath."

Soaking in the tub for an hour reading a book is not the same as "taking a bath."

And a shower can not substitute for soaking and reading.

Though I also agree that modern tubs seem less and less "sized" for soaking and reading comfortably.

So the whole discussion of books and ebooks falling in tubs may be a moot point.