5 ms·

One thing I lament after switching to ebooks is the lack of books. Sounds silly, but I think a wall with shelves of books was quite nice looking and colorful.

by hueving 10y ago

aedron 10y ago
I am happy to not have to store books in physical form. They are heavy, take up loads and loads of space, and do not keep well. And that's not even getting into how impractical they are to actually read (or search) compared with e-books. And still, something is missing in the home. A book collection might be the most personal touch a person can have in the home. Some of it is vanity, you want to show people what you read, but somehow it is also delightful to casually look over all the old gems and sometimes get the urge to pick one out to read again. This doesn't really happen in the same way with the Kindle. I guess it's the same with record collections vs. digital distribution.
- hueving 10y ago
  A bookshelf is like a hash-table to memories of the books you've read. A quick glance at a given binding can bring up lots of thoughts... or it could be a dead reference if the book was crap. :)
- freehunter 10y ago
  My wife is an avid book collector, we we are both avid nomads. In the four years we've been together, we've lived in six places. Most of her books have not survived the repeated moves, with boxing, unboxing, storing, trips in trucks or trailers, etc. She's lost a lot of her physical books, most of which were paperbacks. We've since condensed to only keeping hardcovers. Anything we would have bought as a paperback is now an ebook or is donated when we're done reading it. Our bookshelves only contain hardcovers, which looks a lot nicer and travels better too.
- ciupicri 10y ago
  How can physical books be impractical to actually read compared to e-books when text looks so much better on paper than on screen?
  - rahimnathwani 10y ago
    - require an external light source - forget the current page when closed - no search feature - highlights require an additional implement and are hard to erase
kalleboo 10y ago
My sister is very much into books, and she ran out of wall space. Sleeping in her living room felt claustrophobic to me without any open walls!
magic_beans 10y ago
I recently culled my book collection to those I truly cherish (around 50 or so). Nowadays, I only buy physical books from my favorite authors which I am sure will be exceptional and worth re-reading. Whenever I feel my book collection is getting too big for their shelf, I cull again. It allows me to keep some books around, but prevents my space from getting cluttered!
CocaKoala 10y ago
One of the things I like about ebooks is the lack of books; when I was just out of college, I had to stop buying books for a couple years because I didn't have any room to store them! I'll buy books again when I'm in a long term living situation (i.e. not renting), and can fill walls with bookshelves.

One thing I lament after switching to ebooks is the lack of books. Sounds silly, but I think a wall with shelves of books was quite nice looking and colorful.

by hueving 10y ago

One thing I lament after switching to ebooks is the lack of books. Sounds silly, but I think a wall with shelves of books was quite nice looking and colorful.

aedron 10y ago

I am happy to not have to store books in physical form. They are heavy, take up loads and loads of space, and do not keep well. And that's not even getting into how impractical they are to actually read (or search) compared with e-books. And still, something is missing in the home. A book collection might be the most personal touch a person can have in the home. Some of it is vanity, you want to show people what you read, but somehow it is also delightful to casually look over all the old gems and sometimes get the urge to pick one out to read again. This doesn't really happen in the same way with the Kindle. I guess it's the same with record collections vs. digital distribution.

hueving 10y ago
A bookshelf is like a hash-table to memories of the books you've read. A quick glance at a given binding can bring up lots of thoughts... or it could be a dead reference if the book was crap. :)
freehunter 10y ago
My wife is an avid book collector, we we are both avid nomads. In the four years we've been together, we've lived in six places. Most of her books have not survived the repeated moves, with boxing, unboxing, storing, trips in trucks or trailers, etc. She's lost a lot of her physical books, most of which were paperbacks. We've since condensed to only keeping hardcovers. Anything we would have bought as a paperback is now an ebook or is donated when we're done reading it. Our bookshelves only contain hardcovers, which looks a lot nicer and travels better too.
ciupicri 10y ago
How can physical books be impractical to actually read compared to e-books when text looks so much better on paper than on screen?
- rahimnathwani 10y ago
  - require an external light source - forget the current page when closed - no search feature - highlights require an additional implement and are hard to erase

kalleboo 10y ago

My sister is very much into books, and she ran out of wall space. Sleeping in her living room felt claustrophobic to me without any open walls!

magic_beans 10y ago

I recently culled my book collection to those I truly cherish (around 50 or so). Nowadays, I only buy physical books from my favorite authors which I am sure will be exceptional and worth re-reading. Whenever I feel my book collection is getting too big for their shelf, I cull again. It allows me to keep some books around, but prevents my space from getting cluttered!

CocaKoala 10y ago

One of the things I like about ebooks is the lack of books; when I was just out of college, I had to stop buying books for a couple years because I didn't have any room to store them! I'll buy books again when I'm in a long term living situation (i.e. not renting), and can fill walls with bookshelves.