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I, for one, prefer a e-book to a hard to navigate book. * And I presume I'm a "digital native" (whatever that means) since I'm 13.

trumbitta2 12y ago
Not a proper digital native (I'm 37), but still I prefer reading on my laptop, tablet, or even phone. I've been reading tons of books since I was 6. Switched to digital 10 years ago, more or less. Only thing I can't absolutely think of reading other than in print, are mangas.
Jtsummers 12y ago
For fiction or for non-fiction? And if non-fiction is it still more of a narrative (like a history text or biography) or is it a technical text which bounces around more? If it's a technical text that bounces around, there's hardly any easier tool for navigating a math or science text than flipping through the pages until a diagram or formula that matches something like what you're looking for pops up. The cool thing is, the human visual system is good enough you can spend a fraction of a second on each page flipping through it like a flip book. You'll realize you passed it about 20 pages too late, so you repeat the search a little slower over the most recent pages until you find what you wanted. On a computer with a PDF you may be able to do this, but no e-reader flips through pages this quickly, and most tablets start choking when you flip through hard to render texts too quickly. And this doesn't even count the ability to markup a textbook, or slip loose sheets of paper in with your notes. My physics and calculus texts in college ended up being about 80% textbook and 20% engineering paper by the end of the semester. Annotations on e-books are certainly possible, but the UI is far more cumbersome than just a pen in hand.
- witty_username 12y ago
  For me technical text is the exact place where e-books are preferable. I can easily add bookmarks and swap around places and Ctrl+F phrases.

trumbitta2 12y ago

Not a proper digital native (I'm 37), but still I prefer reading on my laptop, tablet, or even phone. I've been reading tons of books since I was 6. Switched to digital 10 years ago, more or less. Only thing I can't absolutely think of reading other than in print, are mangas.

Jtsummers 12y ago

For fiction or for non-fiction? And if non-fiction is it still more of a narrative (like a history text or biography) or is it a technical text which bounces around more? If it's a technical text that bounces around, there's hardly any easier tool for navigating a math or science text than flipping through the pages until a diagram or formula that matches something like what you're looking for pops up. The cool thing is, the human visual system is good enough you can spend a fraction of a second on each page flipping through it like a flip book. You'll realize you passed it about 20 pages too late, so you repeat the search a little slower over the most recent pages until you find what you wanted. On a computer with a PDF you may be able to do this, but no e-reader flips through pages this quickly, and most tablets start choking when you flip through hard to render texts too quickly. And this doesn't even count the ability to markup a textbook, or slip loose sheets of paper in with your notes. My physics and calculus texts in college ended up being about 80% textbook and 20% engineering paper by the end of the semester. Annotations on e-books are certainly possible, but the UI is far more cumbersome than just a pen in hand.

witty_username 12y ago
For me technical text is the exact place where e-books are preferable. I can easily add bookmarks and swap around places and Ctrl+F phrases.