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Personally, the most significant problem I've faced trying to use textbooks on e-readers is multitasking. Quite often, I want to refer to some information a few

Personally, the most significant problem I've faced trying to use textbooks on e-readers is multitasking. Quite often, I want to refer to some information a few pages back, which, on a paper textbook, is dead simple: you just flip back and forth wherever you want. You just don't get that level of spatial awareness with ebooks.

burke 14y ago
I can't help but wonder whether this is just a limitation of our current e-reader software that will be overcome in the next years.
- archgoon 14y ago
  A flat tablet will not, and never will, provide the same spatial awareness as a physical object, by definition. You can say that it's not important, but it's not a problem that can be solved in software.
  - magic_haze 14y ago
    Not really, though. If, for example, I could pinch to zoom out of the text, identify the parts I'm interested in, and zoom back in simultaneously on two different areas of the book side-by-side (using both hands, say) _that_ would be superior to what I can do with paper now. And much more convenient. I don't think it's impossible to do with software alone; quite a small leap for something like onenote today. The problem, as the top comment notes, is the way everyone treats text as purely linear.
ajtaylor 14y ago
A product I would buy in a heartbeat is a cross between an e-book reader and a paper book. I want a "book" with front & back covers, with a dozen e-ink "pages" in between. Each page would be able to display text on the front and the back. As I flip each physical page, the text is ready for reading. When I get to the last page in the stack, I would flip back to the first sheet for another 24 pages of text. The advantage to this layout is that I can flip back and forth between several pages quickly like a paper book, but I have the light weight and capacity of an e-book reader. I assume it would cost more than a current Kindle, Kobo or Nook but I think the more familiar feel of a paper book would be worth the cost.
- hmsimha 14y ago
  It's a cool thought, but if each page was also designed to pick up touch (which it would have to to serve much of the same functionality of a current ereader) something like this would probably cost over 24 times the current cost of an ereader. Add to that the consideration that if the pages were meant to look and feel like paper, they would suffer the same danger of accidentally ripping them, and I don't think ANYONE would buy the product you described.
  - ajtaylor 14y ago
    I agree with you that I don't think the current technology can support what I want. But perhaps some of the flexible screens coming on the market in the near future could work? The hardware to deal with page refreshes could be shared among all physical pages, so that would help bring down the cost. The pages wouldn't have to be an exact match for paper - I'd be happy with something flexible and paper-ish that I can turn back and forth.
    - hmsimha 14y ago
      Just now saw this response. My thought at the moment is that if this would be feasible in the future, it would still be anywhere from 5 to 10 times the cost of (what is currently) a traditional e-reader. But perhaps in 10 years, the equivalent of today's b&n simple touch would retail for $20-30 and the product described in your post (which it looks like you've deleted for some reason) could be made available for less than $200

burke 14y ago

I can't help but wonder whether this is just a limitation of our current e-reader software that will be overcome in the next years.

archgoon 14y ago
A flat tablet will not, and never will, provide the same spatial awareness as a physical object, by definition. You can say that it's not important, but it's not a problem that can be solved in software.
- magic_haze 14y ago
  Not really, though. If, for example, I could pinch to zoom out of the text, identify the parts I'm interested in, and zoom back in simultaneously on two different areas of the book side-by-side (using both hands, say) _that_ would be superior to what I can do with paper now. And much more convenient. I don't think it's impossible to do with software alone; quite a small leap for something like onenote today. The problem, as the top comment notes, is the way everyone treats text as purely linear.

ajtaylor 14y ago

A product I would buy in a heartbeat is a cross between an e-book reader and a paper book. I want a "book" with front & back covers, with a dozen e-ink "pages" in between. Each page would be able to display text on the front and the back. As I flip each physical page, the text is ready for reading. When I get to the last page in the stack, I would flip back to the first sheet for another 24 pages of text. The advantage to this layout is that I can flip back and forth between several pages quickly like a paper book, but I have the light weight and capacity of an e-book reader. I assume it would cost more than a current Kindle, Kobo or Nook but I think the more familiar feel of a paper book would be worth the cost.

hmsimha 14y ago
It's a cool thought, but if each page was also designed to pick up touch (which it would have to to serve much of the same functionality of a current ereader) something like this would probably cost over 24 times the current cost of an ereader. Add to that the consideration that if the pages were meant to look and feel like paper, they would suffer the same danger of accidentally ripping them, and I don't think ANYONE would buy the product you described.
- ajtaylor 14y ago
  I agree with you that I don't think the current technology can support what I want. But perhaps some of the flexible screens coming on the market in the near future could work? The hardware to deal with page refreshes could be shared among all physical pages, so that would help bring down the cost. The pages wouldn't have to be an exact match for paper - I'd be happy with something flexible and paper-ish that I can turn back and forth.
  - hmsimha 14y ago
    Just now saw this response. My thought at the moment is that if this would be feasible in the future, it would still be anywhere from 5 to 10 times the cost of (what is currently) a traditional e-reader. But perhaps in 10 years, the equivalent of today's b&n simple touch would retail for $20-30 and the product described in your post (which it looks like you've deleted for some reason) could be made available for less than $200