I read and like both. I read a lot of old history books, local histories, pioneer memoirs, etc., which would be pretty hard to get in a hard copy, but which I can get for for a few bucks or for free on my Kindle.
As a side note, Dollar Tree can have some decent titles. If you think about it, paying a dollar for a book is probably cheaper than going to the library when you add in the cost in time and gas to drive there twice to pick it up and return it.
Physical books are best.
Recently I started getting my local area newspapers electronically and love it. I no longer have newspapers lying around mostly unread and it’s just a better fit for me. Because it’s been a mostly positive experience, I’ve been thinking about getting a kindle. I LOVE books and won’t stop buying them but for actually reading them, I think I might find the kindle a better fit. If that makes any sense.
I am multibookerous - using both physical and Kindle reader on my ipad.
Thoughts...
1. I like fiction on my Kindle. I downloaded (more cheaply) and read all +100 plus Louis L’Amour books (twice). Read 8 books on the way to Portugal in a jet. Made it easy - and more in the evenings before bed as we traveled.
2. You can easily highlight passages in the Kindle, save them to evernote.
3. You can get the Readwise app and it will connect to your highlighted Kindle passages and give you a daily review of any number you determine. I review 8 highlights a day. It has been great.
4. I have a hard time reading non-fiction electronically. I buy physical and highlight with a sharpie highlighter. It is easy to pull it off the shelf in the future and review.
I love to read.
My sense of sight is stimulated and delighted with the printed word.
My sense of touch is gratified with the turning of pages, the weight of the book in my hands, the softness of the paper and the stiffness of the covers.
My sense of smell responds to the paper, the ink, and sometimes, leather.
If it is a particularly spiritual book, like the Bible, or a Classic like Ben Hur or Moby Dick, then my spiritual self becomes involved.
If it is an adventure story or a mystery, my mind is stimulated as I imagine myself problem-solving and seeking solutions.
History and Travel take me to other times and places and fuels my imagination.
All of the above observations may be considered the racist ramblings of my White priveledge, but so be it.
I prefer my Cuneiform tablets.
That and writing a paper letter. Some of my most treasured possessions are letters from my grandma. Email is just a throw away, never to be kept or cherished.
Electronic reads are highly cumbersome.
Try it with on-line or downloaded TEXTbooks, especially for math and science.
Nothing like the old way.
I like real books for all the reasons others have mentioned. However, there is one big thing that I like about reading an e-book (I use my Apple iphone to do it, using their Books app). If there’s a word I don’t know, or a place I’m not familiar with, I can easily and very quickly click on the word and then “look-up” and it gives me a definition, or explanation of where the place is, etc. So I read both types.
Tried using a friend’s e-reader. Once. I’m a very fast reader. Having to constantly scroll the text drove me nearly insane. Especially so when I wanted to skip back a few paragraphs (or a few pages) to re-read something. Much of my reading is either technical or it’s histories, so I do that a lot. At the end of the weekend I handed it back with thanks, and have never touched one since. The only thing I might try to read on a screen now would be comic books, (or “graphic novels” as they are now styled).
I will admit that dead tree books are bulky. I often read two or three a week, (when I die, sell your Amazon stock), and storage is a problem, but I’d rather cope with that than an e-reader.
Is it true that e-readers don’t work if you’re out of cellular range? My grandson, who is a screen addict, tells me that e-books he “buys” are streamed from “the cloud”, not downloaded to his reader.
‘Nother thing. Since it’s so easy to self-publish on the Innertubes, the amount of TRULY godawful fiction that reaches the public square has increased exponentially. How to filter it out, since editors have been sidelined? The advent of “print-on-demand” technology that Amazon is using is even bleeding this junk into the hardcopy book market. Nobody has to judge whether a book is worth the cost of a press run anymore. Heck, nobody even PROOFREADS the stuff!
/rant
I almost exclusively only read books. I had an e-reader that I used for a few but gave it to my daughter because I didn’t like it. I have a few books that I’ve downloaded. I just find too much screen time is not good for my vision.
And you can slam a book shut!
I like books but I really like the ability to zoom in for bigger text and see photos better using my 10” android tablet. I have 3 bookcases filled with dust collecting books plus more books in storage. The magazines I get like Readers Digest and Air & Space I get physical copies but also kindle downloads. I have a few dozen ebooks.
Currently, I'm just recently getting into Louis L'Amour for the first time which I could probably get on my ebooks, but it is cheaper to buy used copies and then trade them in when I'm done with them.
All things being equal, I do love the feel and intimacy of the printed word on paper between two covers. Always have been a real biblophile.
Will probably never read a “real” book again. Using the Kindle app on my iPhone, I can read in bed during the night without waking the wife; read in the car while waiting for someone; or wherever.
During our Bible study, though, it would be handier to have a “real” Bible so you can quickly flip to a certain passage. But that’s about the only advantage I see.
Electronic textbook and other student reading sources are DESTROYING learning.
Electronic reading is not only passive, it’s intrusive due to the screen light. (This is mitigated in Kindle, for example, or browser “read mode”) but kids are reading this online texts only and don’t even know how to change font size or screen zoom.
That said, I was never able to read digital books until I got a Surface Duo — MS’s two-screen, foldable cell phone. The thing was absolutely made for reading on the Kindle app.
Narrator (usually a professional actor), with his/her voice or attitude adds extra dimension to the text, distorting sometimes how it would sound to a book reader.
I love my kindle, it’s better for reading in bed and also for going to the park, pool, etc. I also love my audiobooks. But still like real books too!
:hug: