5 ms·

100% but the actual reading on a physical book is better, right? My ideal situation would just to lend my 300 books to a library that ships anywhere in the wor

by swah 3y ago

100% but the actual reading on a physical book is better, right? My ideal situation would just to lend my 300 books to a library that ships anywhere in the world when I finally want to read, and then take it back when I'm done. Or a PDF... But now they are all here, and I rather have the space instead of the books...

sw104 3y ago
> 100% but the actual reading on a physical book is better, right? YMMV but I don't see any difference at all. If anything the form factor of the e-reader makes reading more comfortable. I'm not having to hold the book in a certain way to hold the pages open. It's always lighter, which is a big advantage for reading large books. It's also a bit smoother/faster because page turns are instantaneous and using the holding hand. And I can read under light rain without worrying about the book disintegrating. The e-ink display is akin to paper for my eyes, and more comfortable to read at night with it's reddish backlight as opposed to a physical book with a nearby lamp. On a side note, I do quite like the built-in dictionary/Wikipedia extract feature in Kindles. For some books (eg. Russian classics) it's quite useful. There's also a feature which based on a slider annotates individual words (slider dictates the complexity of words to annotate from some to many) in-line in the book, which I can see as being of enormous benefit to a new or young reader. I do still enjoy going to physical book stores and browsing the covers, blurbs and first chapters. On the other hand, when I'm reading about a book online it's nice to be able to buy it and instantly start reading.
goosedragons 3y ago
No? I can overwrite IMO poor publisher font/margin/spacing choices. I can read a one thousand page book and it's the same consistent ~250g weight. Paper books have a bit better typesetting and for reference books/textbooks they still have the edge but for linear fiction/non-fiction? Give me the ebook every time.
- sw104 3y ago
  Alternatively, tablets with the Kindle app work quite nicely for textbooks. I replaced physical textbooks with an iPad with the Kindle app on it, since whether it's an iPad or textbook it's something that stays at home. It works really well, especially side by side with Goodnotes for studying.
  - goosedragons 3y ago
    Kindle Print replicas can be okay but they are basically just PDFs. It's still faster to flick through a book than a PDF. If a non-print replica Kindle textbook has equations it's generally done with images and looks really bad, makes the book really big in size and slow to navigate, the equations can't reflow and so are usually noticeably different in size at every font level.
imtringued 3y ago
The thing is, once you part with your books you realise you don't care about them. A better idea is a book trading platform where you offer your books for points and then use the points to trade for new books.
itairall 3y ago
For me, reading on a Samsung Galaxy Tab S 8.4 inch screen with 2560x1600 is an upgrade to paper. I think the words are actually sharper but most of all the lighting is always absolutely perfect. The size is perfect. Even beyond that though, my absolute favorite is an audio book read by Robertson Dean. Hopefully someday soon we can have AI Robertson Dean read any book.

by swah 3y ago

sw104 3y ago

> 100% but the actual reading on a physical book is better, right? YMMV but I don't see any difference at all. If anything the form factor of the e-reader makes reading more comfortable. I'm not having to hold the book in a certain way to hold the pages open. It's always lighter, which is a big advantage for reading large books. It's also a bit smoother/faster because page turns are instantaneous and using the holding hand. And I can read under light rain without worrying about the book disintegrating. The e-ink display is akin to paper for my eyes, and more comfortable to read at night with it's reddish backlight as opposed to a physical book with a nearby lamp. On a side note, I do quite like the built-in dictionary/Wikipedia extract feature in Kindles. For some books (eg. Russian classics) it's quite useful. There's also a feature which based on a slider annotates individual words (slider dictates the complexity of words to annotate from some to many) in-line in the book, which I can see as being of enormous benefit to a new or young reader. I do still enjoy going to physical book stores and browsing the covers, blurbs and first chapters. On the other hand, when I'm reading about a book online it's nice to be able to buy it and instantly start reading.

goosedragons 3y ago

No? I can overwrite IMO poor publisher font/margin/spacing choices. I can read a one thousand page book and it's the same consistent ~250g weight. Paper books have a bit better typesetting and for reference books/textbooks they still have the edge but for linear fiction/non-fiction? Give me the ebook every time.

sw104 3y ago
Alternatively, tablets with the Kindle app work quite nicely for textbooks. I replaced physical textbooks with an iPad with the Kindle app on it, since whether it's an iPad or textbook it's something that stays at home. It works really well, especially side by side with Goodnotes for studying.
- goosedragons 3y ago
  Kindle Print replicas can be okay but they are basically just PDFs. It's still faster to flick through a book than a PDF. If a non-print replica Kindle textbook has equations it's generally done with images and looks really bad, makes the book really big in size and slow to navigate, the equations can't reflow and so are usually noticeably different in size at every font level.

imtringued 3y ago

The thing is, once you part with your books you realise you don't care about them. A better idea is a book trading platform where you offer your books for points and then use the points to trade for new books.

itairall 3y ago

For me, reading on a Samsung Galaxy Tab S 8.4 inch screen with 2560x1600 is an upgrade to paper. I think the words are actually sharper but most of all the lighting is always absolutely perfect. The size is perfect. Even beyond that though, my absolute favorite is an audio book read by Robertson Dean. Hopefully someday soon we can have AI Robertson Dean read any book.