I only use ebooks in an emergency: I misplaced a book last week, so I downloaded the ebook into my kindle app. Another time, an ebook was the only format available.
If the gods wanted us to use ebooks, they wouldn’t have created trees!
I have a mix of ebooks & print. The books from one of my favorite authors tend to get fatter and heavier as he nears the end (maybe the end!) of a series. I just can’t hold a 4″ thick, 11″ tall hardback in my hands that long. With an ebook, I don’t have to. And, with my flaky vision, being able to shift the font size and brightness/dimness of the pages as needed is a major plus.
For a library book, it may not matter, (but probably does).
If I have the physical book, I own the book. I don’t lease it.
Nobody’s going to send a thug around to confiscate my physical book collection, but my e-books could be erased at any time, should the business I “purchased” it from, and the holder of the copyrights come to a disagreement.
For this reason, if I care about the book, I try to have a physical copy.
But, yes, once you get used to them*, e-books have many advantages over physical books, and only a few disadvantages, (like, trying to read them without access to power, and the aforementioned weaker consumer protections.)
* Not being able to reliably recall which quadrant you saw a passage, as you skim through a quarter of the book looking for that passage…which you may not remember the exact phrasing of, is a weakness of ebooks, and will remain one until the e-reader acquires the ability to find passages based on alternate phrasings. That is, until the e-book reader can reply with “I didn’t find ‘he struck powerful, but low blow’, but I did locate one instance of ‘he delivered a devastating, but somewhat ignoble, blow’.”
I’m personally finding that ebooks are easier on the eyes, and being able to search them is a bonus. (I’m probably crazy for having both ebook and book book versions of a lot of my favorites, but there you go.)
I have many ebooks I have downloaded/purchased on the cheap. And as they often live on various USB drives until I need them. Since most (95%?) aren’t purchased via Amazon/Kindle’s weird DRM format, I don’t see them being erased by anyone other than myself, via misclick.
This is of course in addition to the 1000’s of physical books I have, and still acquire.
10 thoughts on “624”
David Nuttall
Lucy: Oh, you want to look at our e-book collection. Sure, let me show how to access that. First call up our website on your phone. …
Linda
I download almost all of my ebooks from the library (through Amazon). It’s free and easy and I LOVE it.
Bill Michtom
I only use ebooks in an emergency: I misplaced a book last week, so I downloaded the ebook into my kindle app. Another time, an ebook was the only format available.
If the gods wanted us to use ebooks, they wouldn’t have created trees!
SueB,NH
I have a mix of ebooks & print. The books from one of my favorite authors tend to get fatter and heavier as he nears the end (maybe the end!) of a series. I just can’t hold a 4″ thick, 11″ tall hardback in my hands that long. With an ebook, I don’t have to. And, with my flaky vision, being able to shift the font size and brightness/dimness of the pages as needed is a major plus.
SeanR
For a library book, it may not matter, (but probably does).
If I have the physical book, I own the book. I don’t lease it.
Nobody’s going to send a thug around to confiscate my physical book collection, but my e-books could be erased at any time, should the business I “purchased” it from, and the holder of the copyrights come to a disagreement.
For this reason, if I care about the book, I try to have a physical copy.
But, yes, once you get used to them*, e-books have many advantages over physical books, and only a few disadvantages, (like, trying to read them without access to power, and the aforementioned weaker consumer protections.)
* Not being able to reliably recall which quadrant you saw a passage, as you skim through a quarter of the book looking for that passage…which you may not remember the exact phrasing of, is a weakness of ebooks, and will remain one until the e-reader acquires the ability to find passages based on alternate phrasings. That is, until the e-book reader can reply with “I didn’t find ‘he struck powerful, but low blow’, but I did locate one instance of ‘he delivered a devastating, but somewhat ignoble, blow’.”
Anna
Well said.
Gene Ambaum
I’m personally finding that ebooks are easier on the eyes, and being able to search them is a bonus. (I’m probably crazy for having both ebook and book book versions of a lot of my favorites, but there you go.)
LibraryRuss
I have many ebooks I have downloaded/purchased on the cheap. And as they often live on various USB drives until I need them. Since most (95%?) aren’t purchased via Amazon/Kindle’s weird DRM format, I don’t see them being erased by anyone other than myself, via misclick.
This is of course in addition to the 1000’s of physical books I have, and still acquire.
Lynn Scherzinger
I adore ebooks. Over the last Christmas holiday, I read 5 free books all in the same tiny genre! I was so happy!
My arthritis was dealing me fits, which is why all the reading… And napping!
BN
“Miss… this is a library.”
Our Next Appearances
More information on our keynotes and talks
Social Media / RSS
All contents (c) 2016 – 2025 Ambauminable LLC
Get Library Comic in your email.