Avid readers poll: How does it make you feel to see most people reading electronic books?
by E Book Reader on Thursday, August 19th, 2010 | 22 Comments
Instead of the real thing? I just feel sad that most people are picking up their Amazon Kindle things and reading electronic books instead of just picking up a real tangible book.
I don’t know if it is just me but nothing beats the feel of picking up a good book and feeling the paper. I just love the new book smell every time I go into the Barnes and Noble stores.
I guess I am just an old fashioned sort of guy.
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Same here- and not only about the smell lol. First of all, those things look like they’ll hurt your eyes and isn’t it nice to have a shelf full of books in your house instead of having to "delete" one every time it gets full? Well, that’s just my opinion. And we have to talk soon, we haven’t in a while.
In my circle, it’s paper books only.
Many people feel the same way, including me.
It makes me feel…like I’m still holding onto something important…
yea books for me i like the feel of the book and they was u can smell the old or new in the pages,i love going to a book store and feeling the picture on the cover and i love the way getting a book makes me excited to read..old fashion also..
I don’t mind seeing people with e-books. At least they are reading. I do, however, agree with you about the feel, smell, presence of a paper book. There’s nothing like it.
I know they won’t disappear in my lifetime but I do figure their days are numbered. Pity.
Most people? Really? I live in a very large city and travel around by bus and I have only seen a few people with electronic books.
However I’m with you. Books don’t need batteries, don’t break when you drop them and if someone steals your book it’s no big deal.
..
I just hate it! What happened to sitting down on a hot summer day, and Oh! Look! A nice NON-ELECTRONIC book! How about I read it! ^__^
I don’t have a problem with it, but personally I never would.
I like the feeling of having a book in your hand.
I like getting a bunch of new books from a used book sale.
…and, call me crazy, I like how old books smell.
No kindle for me, thanks!
I only read those if it is absolutely necessary, like if I can’t get ahold of it from the library soon enough. I can hardly STAND reading them though. Having a real book makes it feel easier to dive into the story. Holding a cold piece of plastic and not being able to turn your own page just doesn’t feel right. . .
I like the real tangible books too.
I love books, but it doesn’t bother me if someone else wants to read an electronic book. I’m sure they have their reasons… maybe they are doing reading for work and they only use it for work, or maybe they don’t have room for a lot of books in their home, or maybe they just don’t have ‘sentimental attachment’ to material things, etc.
At least they are still reading and learning.
Personally, I prefer the feel and smell of pages; I enjoy squinting to read in the dark when everyone else in my house is asleep. I love tangible books.
With electronic books, I’m glad to see that people are reading (perhaps some that wouldn’t have bothered to pick up an actual book), but at the same time I feel that they’re missing out. Technology is a marvellous thing, but some things take away from an experience that one could have otherwise fallen in love with.
Meh, books are books and format isn’t really important to me.
I KNOW.
I effin hate it.
Are you really taking a way from the joy of reading by reading from a freaking electronic device?
That’s so sad…
Welcome to America in 2010.. the land of stupidity.
It kind of makes me sad to think that they’re burning their eyes out on some screen when they could be peacefully flipping pages without having to worry about glare, bad screens, battery life, and glitches.
Makes me think of The Last Book In The Universe.
I get all my books from the library to read, and thinking about it I can see ONE advantage to Kindles and the likes: idiots haven’t pre stained, ripped, and tore at the pages already.
I own the Kindle 2, so let me give you some of my opinions. It is a great device, and I’ve to say I love it! I think I’ve read over 30 books with my Kindle, no glitches so far! And since Kindle books are cheaper than actual books, I think I’ve saved around $120 on buying books already.
I like reading and at the beginning I did miss a bit on the feeling of reading books. But now I love to hold the Kindle, the e-ink seems to work very well, it is really like reading books… Now I often read with the Kindle for several hours but I don’t feel tired… And I now prefer to manage all books inside the Kindle rather than my never big enough bookshelf… And like to do bookmarking, annotation, dictionary lookup without any additional thing but a Kindle.
One of the reasons I love my Kindle is that it has helped me improve a lot on my efficiency and utilize my time. Before I have the Kindle, waiting time like when I’m waiting for friends or waiting for shuttle bus or some thing like that is simply wasted. Now I just need to bring the Kindle 2 along with me, and all my favorite books are inside it. Another thing I like the most is the text-to-speech function, which means I can "read" books without even holding or looking at the Kindle. Now I like to use this function when I’ve myself busy on some boring things, say when I’m on the step machine or doing some housework…
There are quite a lot of free books (tips: if you’re outside the U.S. all the books will have US$2 added, but when you choose to download to computer when you check out, the $2 will be waived, and you can copy the books to your Kindle through USB cable), and many Kindle books, magazines and newspapers are cheaper than the actual paper version. I remember I read these reviews about the benefits of the Kindle when I decided to buy it:
http://www.amazon.com/gp/redirect.html?ie=UTF8&location=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.amazon.com%2Freview%2FR2DUM7S4XW06QN%3Fie%3DUTF8%26ASIN%3DB00154JDAI%26nodeID%3D%26ref%255F%3Dcm%255Fcr%255Fpr%255Fcmt&tag=elec-m-20&linkCode=ur2&camp=1789&creative=390957
http://www.speedreaderxreview.com/is-kindle-2-worth-the-price
Hope it helps
I’ve never actually seen anyone read these e-books, ever, but I’ve seen them for sale (in bookshops)!
Personally I find it easier to read books (fiction in particular) on paper… I wouldn’t want to use an electronic book. But… if those people are happy and reading, it’s fine for them I guess.
I love my Kindle 2 very much. If you’re thinking about getting the Kindle, I’ll say get it and you won’t regret. Right now I’ve read over 10 books with the Kindle, and I really like the idea that I can bring and store all the books with the handy device. Besides, it uses the e-ink technology, it is really clear like reading books; and even I read with the device for long hours, I don’t feel tired. The internet browsing comes handy as well when I want to look for information on some specific area. My only complaint is the white case, right now all the Kindles are in white color… I think it will be cool if I can have a black or deep blue color Kindle
Yes, Kindle books are cheaper than hard copies. I suggest you to read this review from a top reviewer who is also a book lover, it outlines quite a lot of benefits of the Kindle and also why it is worth especially at the end of the review:
http://www.amazon.com/gp/redirect.html?ie=UTF8&location=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.amazon.com%2Freview%2FR9J54TZ1541OR%3Fie%3DUTF8%26ref%255F%3Dcm%255Fcr%255Frdp%255Fperm&tag=more_info-20&linkCode=ur2&camp=1789&creative=390957
And there are some websites like these two, where you can find more than ten thousand free books for the Kindle:
http://www.gutenberg.org/wiki/Main_Page
http://manybooks.net/
Hope this helps.
Well few people I know are actually avid readers enough to buy electronic books!
I doubt that they’ll mae paper books obsolete though. I love turning pages and reading in that tangible way!
I do have a kindle but only because there are some copies of books I’d love to read but can’t find anywhere!
I don’t like electronic books either, I prefer to sit or lie somewhere and hold the book and read.
But sometimes a book is too expensive or they can’t get it where they live, maybe that’s why they use electronic books. Maybe some just prefer to read electronic typed stuff.
People love convenience nowadays, but reading an actual book is more fun.
I’ve never actually seen someone reading from a Kindle.
I’m a little interested in the theory. But I would never replace my books with a Kindle, ever. To me, it would be like replacing my flesh-and-blood family with robots. Maybe it would be cool for a while, but eventually, it would pan out to be just… a bad decision. I love my books. I love them.