4 ms·

There are fundamental differences between a paper book and an ebook. I far prefer paper books when I'm using it as a reference, but love the convenience of eboo

There are fundamental differences between a paper book and an ebook. I far prefer paper books when I'm using it as a reference, but love the convenience of ebooks when for when I'm reading through something. With technical books it is very common to read initially and reference later, or to read some sections, use others for reference etc. With that in mind it has often been a tough choice as to whether to buy a paper copy of an electronic copy of a book. This is a very welcome change, and I'd gladly pay a few bucks for the convenience of being able to switch medias.

jmduke 13y ago
I'm the exact opposite: I prefer paper books for 'binge reading', but eBooks for documentation or sifting through, since I'd take Ctrl+F over leafing through an index/glossary any day. Which is why I think this (and similar offerings: I know O'Reilly and leanpub do similar things) is such an exciting offer: I don't have to sit back and decide which use case I'd rather prioritize.
jlarocco 13y ago
I'm a little surprised anybody could prefer paper books for reference... For me, full-text search, bookmarks, and copy/paste make ebooks far superior for referencing. Not to mention I don't have a bunch of books cluttering my desk. In any case, I completely agree this is awesome. I've been considering selling most of my old physical books and buying the ebook versions, and this will save me a bunch of money.
- gknoy 13y ago
  Sometimes, being able to flip between two sections (comparing examples) or things a couple pages apart can be useful. I remember having both PDF and hard copies of some RPG rulebooks, and it was almost always easier to find That Specific Thing in the paper book, once I was familiar enough with everything to use the contextual clues and page differences to find my way easily. Flipping between rules for {verb} and the list of valid {option} permutations is a similar case with tech books. Control-F helps, and so do bookmarks, but some things are easier with paper.
- VLM 13y ago
  The almost stereotypical star trek DS9 scene where (anyone) is working on something complicated and has five PADDS on the desk all shuffling around. Relatively few people own and simultaneously use multiple ereaders. Probably much more common in the future.
  - jlarocco 13y ago
    Ah, that makes sense. Referencing multiple ebooks away from a computer would be hugely inconvenient. For me, using a book for reference almost always means I'm writing code and have the online Kindle app open in one or more browser tabs. I didn't even consider the use case where somebody would be referencing books away from the computer.
    - VLM 13y ago
      Even while on the computer its a surface area thing, which can be partially fixed by multiple monitors, but only partially. So, I'd like to simultaneously see a PDF of the circuit board layout, the schematic diagram, the bill of materials, maybe some text commentary (best install C21 first, as U14 and R75 will be in the way later...) and maybe a datasheet of some critical ckt component. And if I'm doing something vaguely computer or microcontroller related I'm going to want another machine just for that. So 4 to 6 screens is reasonable. There are quad output video cards, another solution is I have three monitors on my desk both at work and at home with multiple computers connected to them.
  - yk 13y ago
    Considering that the cheapeast tabletts did go from a $500 iPad 1 in 2010 to less than $50 [1] now, this seems probable. ( Extrapolating, we end up with roughly $1 in 2020 and tablets become essentially consumables one can throw away when the battery dies.) [1] $35, http://www.alibaba.com/product-gs/694599061/Cheapest_Dual_core_CPU_Cortex_A9.html http://www.alibaba.com/product-gs/694599061/Cheapest_Dual_co...

jmduke 13y ago

I'm the exact opposite: I prefer paper books for 'binge reading', but eBooks for documentation or sifting through, since I'd take Ctrl+F over leafing through an index/glossary any day. Which is why I think this (and similar offerings: I know O'Reilly and leanpub do similar things) is such an exciting offer: I don't have to sit back and decide which use case I'd rather prioritize.

jlarocco 13y ago

I'm a little surprised anybody could prefer paper books for reference... For me, full-text search, bookmarks, and copy/paste make ebooks far superior for referencing. Not to mention I don't have a bunch of books cluttering my desk. In any case, I completely agree this is awesome. I've been considering selling most of my old physical books and buying the ebook versions, and this will save me a bunch of money.

gknoy 13y ago
Sometimes, being able to flip between two sections (comparing examples) or things a couple pages apart can be useful. I remember having both PDF and hard copies of some RPG rulebooks, and it was almost always easier to find That Specific Thing in the paper book, once I was familiar enough with everything to use the contextual clues and page differences to find my way easily. Flipping between rules for {verb} and the list of valid {option} permutations is a similar case with tech books. Control-F helps, and so do bookmarks, but some things are easier with paper.
VLM 13y ago
The almost stereotypical star trek DS9 scene where (anyone) is working on something complicated and has five PADDS on the desk all shuffling around. Relatively few people own and simultaneously use multiple ereaders. Probably much more common in the future.
- jlarocco 13y ago
  Ah, that makes sense. Referencing multiple ebooks away from a computer would be hugely inconvenient. For me, using a book for reference almost always means I'm writing code and have the online Kindle app open in one or more browser tabs. I didn't even consider the use case where somebody would be referencing books away from the computer.
  - VLM 13y ago
    Even while on the computer its a surface area thing, which can be partially fixed by multiple monitors, but only partially. So, I'd like to simultaneously see a PDF of the circuit board layout, the schematic diagram, the bill of materials, maybe some text commentary (best install C21 first, as U14 and R75 will be in the way later...) and maybe a datasheet of some critical ckt component. And if I'm doing something vaguely computer or microcontroller related I'm going to want another machine just for that. So 4 to 6 screens is reasonable. There are quad output video cards, another solution is I have three monitors on my desk both at work and at home with multiple computers connected to them.
- yk 13y ago
  Considering that the cheapeast tabletts did go from a $500 iPad 1 in 2010 to less than $50 [1] now, this seems probable. ( Extrapolating, we end up with roughly $1 in 2020 and tablets become essentially consumables one can throw away when the battery dies.) [1] $35, http://www.alibaba.com/product-gs/694599061/Cheapest_Dual_core_CPU_Cortex_A9.html http://www.alibaba.com/product-gs/694599061/Cheapest_Dual_co...