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There are (at least) three things that physical books will always do better than e-books: 1. Be single-purpose. There are no notifications, no distractions, no
by lukifer 8y ago
There are (at least) three things that physical books will always do better than e-books:
1. Be single-purpose. There are no notifications, no distractions, no temptations to tab over to something else. It's a classic "less is more".
2. Never run out of battery. It's super-cool that e-ink readers last for weeks or more; but if I throw a paperback in a travel bag, I don't have to worry about a charger at all.
3. Sit on a shelf, as a living artifact. This seems silly, and there's certainly something laudable about a minimalist lifestyle that eschews shelves. Nonetheless, there's something beautiful about creating a space (shrine?) to showcase one's beloved books. I also adore perusing the bookshelves of someone I've just met, to learn what they're interested in, and it makes a great conversation-starter. The good news is, electronic media is invisible; the bad news is, electronic media is invisible.
All that said, it's good that we don't have to choose, I enjoy reading in both formats! :)
- gringoDan 8y agoI also read in both formats and agree with all of the above. Two additional benefits of physical books: 1. Marginalia. While you can note-take on e-readers, I vastly prefer to do so in physical form. (I'm not entirely sure why, but I know I'm not alone - when I was in college a few years ago, people would print out the lecture slides to take notes on when they easily could have done so on their computers.) 2. Signaling. How else are you going to show people on the subway, in coffeeshops, etc. that you aren't just browsing Instagram and are instead a Very Serious Reader? :)
- saalweachter 8y agoRe: 1, many people find the physical act of writing to improve their ability to remember information. I wonder if anyone has done studies on writing vs typing vs listening/reading-only baseline.
- sigi45 8y agoI read enough books in public transport. No one cares. Even myself I had perhaps one 5 sec encounter like a glance on a book cover I known
- Nition 8y agoI read books on an eBook reader most of the time but one thing that's really lacking is ease of skipping around to different sections, reference pages etc. Having said that, there's a lot of obvious effort in the software to help get around that limitation (footnotes appearing in a popup window, searching the book for any text, bookmarks, etc).
- skookumchuck 8y ago1. get an e-ink reader. No distractions. 2. charge it up before you travel. It'll last the whole trip! 3. as someone with thousands of books, the shelf system is more of a liability