6 ms·

Especially for non-fiction, ebooks are lacking the "flippability" (for lack of a better term) that print books have. The slow response time of e-ink, IMHO is a

Especially for non-fiction, ebooks are lacking the "flippability" (for lack of a better term) that print books have. The slow response time of e-ink, IMHO is a big factor in that. I was trying to read David Graeber's Debt: The First 5000 Years on my Kindle, and I eventually caved in and got the print book because the Kindle version frustrated me when I tried to flip back to review earlier points in the books. I would posit that this is why e-books are still far behind print when it comes to textbooks. Even Millenials prefer print textbooks, even as they adopt e-books for other purposes.

yawz 12y ago
On the other hand, "search" is much more advanced in e-books. Taking notes, bookmarks, etc. It's just that e-paper/e-ink isn't as responsive as tablets. It'll come, though. It's only a matter of time.
mikekap99 12y ago
Textbooks are heavy and carrying a few of them can be burdensome. When I was a college student I walked everywhere and used e-books so I would have a lighter backpack.
bokonist 12y ago
I switched to reading most non-fiction on my ipad, for exactly this reason.
jhanschoo 12y ago
Interestingly, I have the opposite preference as a college student and avid non-fiction reader. I like reading PDFs and ebooks of texts in a window while taking notes with emacs in Org mode. I structure my notes with the chapter-section-subsection-etc. structure of the text, and in this manner, I always have a good gauge of my understanding of the text, and am more confident with jumping around to the chapters that interest me more or are more relevant. This has been so useful for me that I've started to refrain from reading long non-fiction texts that are not amenable to this structure, as I'm less likely to be able to recall and apply information learned that have not been hierarchically organized, given equal investment of time and focused effort.
wkdown 12y ago
This is a good point. I love my Kindle and I read fiction and non-fiction on it regularly. However, anything technical I vastly prefer print. I cannot really say why, other than traversing a technical book is just "easier" to flip around with versus a linear progression like other books.

yawz 12y ago

On the other hand, "search" is much more advanced in e-books. Taking notes, bookmarks, etc. It's just that e-paper/e-ink isn't as responsive as tablets. It'll come, though. It's only a matter of time.

mikekap99 12y ago

Textbooks are heavy and carrying a few of them can be burdensome. When I was a college student I walked everywhere and used e-books so I would have a lighter backpack.

bokonist 12y ago

I switched to reading most non-fiction on my ipad, for exactly this reason.

jhanschoo 12y ago

Interestingly, I have the opposite preference as a college student and avid non-fiction reader. I like reading PDFs and ebooks of texts in a window while taking notes with emacs in Org mode. I structure my notes with the chapter-section-subsection-etc. structure of the text, and in this manner, I always have a good gauge of my understanding of the text, and am more confident with jumping around to the chapters that interest me more or are more relevant. This has been so useful for me that I've started to refrain from reading long non-fiction texts that are not amenable to this structure, as I'm less likely to be able to recall and apply information learned that have not been hierarchically organized, given equal investment of time and focused effort.

wkdown 12y ago

This is a good point. I love my Kindle and I read fiction and non-fiction on it regularly. However, anything technical I vastly prefer print. I cannot really say why, other than traversing a technical book is just "easier" to flip around with versus a linear progression like other books.