3 ms·

I would rather try to bring some of the experience of physically browsing through shelves online. I am moving from Atlanta to Seattle. In the process, I am she

by hosh 14y ago

I would rather try to bring some of the experience of physically browsing through shelves online. I am moving from Atlanta to Seattle. In the process, I am shedding six shelves of dead tree books. When I get out there, I may have some of those books shipped out there ... but I'm getting a taste of living with most of my possessions in the cloud. (Besides, what is past is past). Nothing really replaces the experiencing of having a wall of books you have read and curated. I'm thinking of a device that would allow me to display my collection to visitors. A tablet someone can walk up to and browse. (With sensors to softly light up the space, like you would expect in an awesome museum). It would not be like the iBooks UI (which sucks), but something more immersive. It should be more like playing with Second Life, without requiring someone to be a badass at first person shooters. Ah well, I will figure it out. Who knows, maybe I'll even organize a kickstarter for the app.

NnamdiJr 14y ago
"Nothing really replaces the experience of having a wall of books you have read and curated". I strongly second that. As a long-time avid reader, over the past decade its been an interesting change going from a wholly physical library to mostly digital, thanks to my Galaxy Note and Kindle. But something I truly miss is having friends come over and curiously rifle through the books on my shelf and the conversations that were started as they asked about each one (as well as the opportunity to show-off a bit). Almost as nice an experience was, sneaking a peek at the cover of the book a guy sitting next to me on the subway/bus was reading and going on to discover that it is another good read. So far, none of the digital bookstores/libraries have been able to sufficiently reproduce this experience for me.. though I have hope they, or something else, will be able to in the near future. Until then, I will keep a physical copy of any favorites on my shelf for that next curious mind.
- WalterBright 14y ago
  I've had many walls of books for many decades, and can only remember a couple incidents where anyone ever poked through them. Now, I'm in the process of cutting them up, running them through a scanner, and throwing them in the recycling bin. I have apps for ipod and kindle that enable me to browse the books on my lan, and I enjoy poking through them that way from whereever I am in the house. I'm looking forward to the day that I can store the entire thing on my ereader. So far, that would be 70Gb, but I expect it to rise by at least a factor of 10.
  - hosh 14y ago
    Almost all my friends come over make a beeline for my library and start poking around. Sometimes, I look at a person and pick out a book that they need. Maybe it is because I am gushing over book X and pressing it into their hands. If you don't have friends poking around in your library, it's probably best to drop it into the cloud. Those collections get heavy. That's why I am thinking of up designs to draw people into the virtual library.

by hosh 14y ago

NnamdiJr 14y ago

"Nothing really replaces the experience of having a wall of books you have read and curated". I strongly second that. As a long-time avid reader, over the past decade its been an interesting change going from a wholly physical library to mostly digital, thanks to my Galaxy Note and Kindle. But something I truly miss is having friends come over and curiously rifle through the books on my shelf and the conversations that were started as they asked about each one (as well as the opportunity to show-off a bit). Almost as nice an experience was, sneaking a peek at the cover of the book a guy sitting next to me on the subway/bus was reading and going on to discover that it is another good read. So far, none of the digital bookstores/libraries have been able to sufficiently reproduce this experience for me.. though I have hope they, or something else, will be able to in the near future. Until then, I will keep a physical copy of any favorites on my shelf for that next curious mind.

WalterBright 14y ago
I've had many walls of books for many decades, and can only remember a couple incidents where anyone ever poked through them. Now, I'm in the process of cutting them up, running them through a scanner, and throwing them in the recycling bin. I have apps for ipod and kindle that enable me to browse the books on my lan, and I enjoy poking through them that way from whereever I am in the house. I'm looking forward to the day that I can store the entire thing on my ereader. So far, that would be 70Gb, but I expect it to rise by at least a factor of 10.
- hosh 14y ago
  Almost all my friends come over make a beeline for my library and start poking around. Sometimes, I look at a person and pick out a book that they need. Maybe it is because I am gushing over book X and pressing it into their hands. If you don't have friends poking around in your library, it's probably best to drop it into the cloud. Those collections get heavy. That's why I am thinking of up designs to draw people into the virtual library.