I got a copy of_Existence_ by +David Brin recently, and only got 150 pages or so into it before I had to buy the Kindle version. (Hamish's 'TED Talk')
* I can't change the typeface on the page to something my brain speedily parses.
* I can't change the text size or line spacing on the page. (before you all laugh at me thinking I've joined the Large Print Edition Crowd, I actually settled on a typeface a little smaller and closer together than the print copy)
* I can't read easily in the dark.
* Most aggravating, the gutter on the print page is too small, so I can't read the last word or two on each lefthand page in the print edition because my reading lamp is on my right side, such that the right hand page casts a shadow on the gutter…so I have to guess. If I turn the book, then I'm trying to read the last word edge-on, which totally doesn't work.
It was 1998 when I became more comfortable composing onto a screen than a page.
The transformation is complete.
LOL, my husband is the same way, only with his Nook.
Aww 🙁
Time to send him paperback copies of books we want him to read then. 😛
I hate e-reading. Give me a book any day.
After reading on an ereader for the past four or five months, I went back and read a paperback. Tapping on the screen to turn the page has become reflexive to me. It doesn't work so well on paperbacks (no matter how many times I tried). Ebooks all the way!
For me, it's being able to prop up a book to read while I'm doing something else. Kindle? Piece of cake. Dead Tree Book? Crap, how do I hold the page here and easily advance it to the next page?
I was a desperate resistor against ebooks. I was dead wrong, as far as the utility aspect goes (the IP / ownership aspect being something completely different).
I do like the way a paper book feels in my hand and running my hand over the pages, but once I actually start reading I could care less about how it feels in my hand.
Yeah, I reflexively tap a word to look it up but the printed text just stares back at me blankly. Paperwhite Kindle ftw.
I know the feeling ALL too well. My vision issues precluded me from being able to read books comfortably nearly 20 years ago. I hate books on tape. When I got my first Kindle, it was almost like being given sight again. Now that I am half way through my cornea transplants, the e-readers are still WAY easier to read.
As much as I like the feel/smell/etc of books, I love my Kindle. I read three or four books a week and the Kindle doesn't get easily damaged in my bag as I take it with me everywhere, is easier to prop up, solicits fewer "What are you reading?" moments where people try and crane to see the cover of the book, is much easier on my hands because I'm not trying to hold a book open with one hand while I do something else (I often read while cooking, for example,) I never lose my place when I have to rush to put my book down at the playground because my kid needs something suddenly, my library loans Kindle books which are often more available than print books, and my allergist doesn't object to me collecting Kindle books.
When my wife got me an early version of the kindle almost 6 years ago I remember trying to look delighted – how could she not know how much I loved the printed page? Later that night I turned it on and tried to sound excited as I fumbled through the set up – then I ordered a digital copy of Tolkien (er all of them) with a single click- my heart fluttered- 45 seconds later I was thumbing through those words – I felt guilty for how quickly I abandoned the printed page…