Posted on 03/12/2009 4:37:51 AM PDT by mattstat
I own somewhere around 4,000 books. Tons of classics, many collectibles, home educator’s library and hundreds of extremely useful ‘how-to’ titles, manuals, trade and craft publications from 1960’s back to the 19th century. These examples of enduring technology will never be phased out - well, careful use and care will ensure about 100-150 years of utility. They’re hell to move, but once installed they work great.I pity the poor fools that think e-books are books.
There are other perspectives...
Jerry: It's very good cantaloupe. (changing subject) So that's it? You're out? George: Except for one small problem. I left some books in her apartment. Jerry: So, go get them. George: Oh, no. No, I can't go back there. Jerry, it's so awkward and, you know, it could be dangerous - sexually. Something could happen, I'd be right back where I started. Jerry: So forget about the books. Did you read them? George: Well, yeah. Jerry: What do you need them for? George: I don't know. They're books. Jerry: What is this obsession people have with books? They put them in their houses - like they're trophies. What do you need it for after you read it? George: They're MY books. Jerry: So you want me to get those books? Is that it?
Had I been Jerry, I wouldn't have been so reluctant to go over to Marlene's place...
Were people like this when we went from scrolls to books? Were people like this when Gutenberg developed the printing press? Were people like this when movable type faces were invented? Were people like this when self-publishing started?
The words are the value, but even with that truth established,, the medium of the printed “book” will not disappear. A first edition of “Tom Sawyer” is still a keepsake, a valuable item with intrinsic value.
But if I download a copy of “Tom Sawyer” on my Kindle and read it I’m somehow destroying “books as a universal medium”?
As literate people, I know you know this word: hyperbole.
I buy most of my books used from online sources. Why pay a lot of money when I can get decent copies usually for a dollar or less plus media postage. I read them, then sell them on eBay and make my initial cost back. I’ve always been slow to purchase new technology. I guess I’m just old-fashioned that way, and will stick to printed copies at least for now.
I read a quote in Reader’s Digest from some PBS Political commentator, who could not understand why people would have so much music, then (being so much more wise than the little people) said he instead listened to audio books. I need to be able to use see, feel, and touch my books as I read. While, I can get behind a lot of technology, books is one place I cannot. But, that’s just me.
You can’t chuck a Kindle at the cat. Well, twice.
Might try one eventually, but right now I like regular books. Even though they take up a lot of space, I like that aspect, too.
I much prefer holding a book and turning the pages to holding a Kindle and clicking a button, and I love the look of the bookshelves in my home filled with books. Can't replace that with a compact plastic gadget.
I’ll wait for the next big thing. Maybe books will be available on 8-track tape, who knows.
A book's a book. The format is irrelevant AFAIK. I have about 30 books on my iPhone right now, and find reading them as pleasurable as turning pages. There's the added benefit that because they're backlit, I don't have to have good light. I wouldn't read in the tub, but I usually take a shower anyway.
Anyway, it's not like you're marrying the e-book. I still have a lot of books. This is just another option. The e-book won't get jealous if you read something on paper.
In one hundred years, printed books will still be readable. Books on tape, books on CD, DVD, Kindle, will be like Egyptian heroglyphics, except that like those they’ll be invisible to the naked eye (no devices will exist to read them.) There are examples of this already from the past 20, 30 years. Computer disks, tape cartridges and so on. Good luck, future historians!
like=unlike, dumby!
J. K. Rowlings sold a hand written manuscript at auction just last year. If there was a greater demand for handwritten books, there would be more authors who would provide handwritten manuscripts.
I own a library of around 800 books. I won’t be getting rid of any of them, but the Kindle is a great alternative to carrying around heavy pieces of wood all the time.
I am currently working with a young woman who will be taking a missions trip next year. She will be gone for 2 years, and is a habitual reader. She has identified 200 books she would like to take with her.
The total weight of those books is around 178lbs. Many of her books can be downloaded for free and several cannot. There are only a few that cannot be found in a digital format.
If she were to download all of the books she can, it would cost her around $250 through Amazon. Add the $360 for the Kindle, and the $200 shipping for the 32 pounds of books that she wants that she can’t download, and you are talking about right at $800 to $850 to get her books with her where she is going.
If she ships all 200 books normally, it will cost between $1200 and $1500.
“I’ll wait for the next big thing. Maybe books will be available on 8-track tape, who knows.”
I’m waiting for the integrated chip brain implants. Imagine, carrying the sum of all human knowledge in your head.
Not a fair comparison. At Barnes and Noble, you're paying to have what you want, when you want it, for as long as you want it, and if it falls under your bed while you're trying to read it at night, then you won't get dunning notices or calls.
With the age of the electronic book, bootleg copies are made quickly, much quicker than your name will come up on the waiting list at the library.
I loved Louis L'Amour when I was a kid. From about seventh grade until my senior year, I collected every Western he wrote except for his poems and short stories. After I left for college my mom brought them over to my brother's house. Now they are missing after he moved. I Wanted my kid to enjoy them when he got older. It looks like a good Sackett book goes for about $4.00 on Kindle.
I feel the same and am especially enamored of BPC (Before Political Correctness) books.
We're living in an old Victorian white elephant and I derive a hard-to-describe comfort going from room to room and finding books everywhere.
Very few people will ever fill up a Kindle. It can be de-authorized, making it a brick, rather than an e-book reader and you can back up the e-books to your computer then put them on a new Kindle.
That and the fact that most muggers aren’t big readers.
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