Dead Tree OR Electrons - What are you reading? [Sat. Vanity]

Self | 09/21/13 | Self

[BenLurkin]

“I have always been a reader and one of my snobbish instincts has been to shun people who do not read.”

http://www.johnspeedie.com/healy/20000.wav

[jjr153]

Dead trees for me, although I really do need to get an e-reader for when I travel. Any recommendations, Kindle, Nook, other? Currently finishing (today) “A Feast For Crows” - George R.R. Martin book 4 of The Game of Thrones series.

[dangerdoc]

I have been reading mostly digital for the last 3-4 years. We have two iPads and a Asus Transformer but the device I use to read is my 5” Samsung phone, very crisp screen, screen big enough to read but small enough that it is the device I have on my person when I have time to read.

I have read hundreds of books on it and the phone I had before it.

[Southside_Chicago_Republican]

I still read both. My son gave me a beautifully-made edition of “The Border Trilogy” by Cormac McCarthy, and it is a pleasure to hold and look at. I like Kindle for access to old, out-of-print books that I can get for free or only a few bucks. I also like it for its convenience. There are no bookstores around here anymore, so if I want a hard copy of a book, I have to wait for an Amazon order. With Kindle, if a book or a certain author comes to mind, I can look up the books and have them right away. It is also handy for while I’m sitting at the mechanic’s or the doctor’s waiting room — I don’t have to decide before I leave what I am going to read, and I can switch to something else if the wait is long. And, when I sit on the porch to read, I don’t have the annoyance of wind blowing the pages or having to worry about losing the light when dusk comes.

A book on Kindle is a book. I don’t find it any more isolating than any other book. It is some of the other applications that may discourage interaction with others.

I don’t care for magazines on Kindle.

[Stirner]

I have a houseful of books. I like to underline and write notes in the margin. E-readers allow me to do that, but not so easily. Still, the physical books take up too much space. If someone came out with a gizmo where you throw a book in a hopper and a digitized file came out the other end, I’d use it and get rid of most of my books. You can make files by scanning, but that would take me forever. What I want is a mechinical system to turn the pages for me.

[ssschev]

I am waiting for book six in the dead tree format.

[Don W]

Both. It depends where I am, and which I feel like reading. I’ve got 3 books on the go right now, 2 on the e-reader, and one dead tree.

[left that other site]

Oh Yes...I am doing that too!

[HippyLoggerBiker]

Free downloads of books out of copyright in various formats.

www.gutenberg.org

[ProtectOurFreedom]

Be sure to get yourself a set of "Ingenious Mechanisms for Designers and Inventors." My Grandfather, an outstanding engineer and machinist, had a set in his basement workshop in the late 50s and early 60s (the books were only 30 years old at that time). I used to spend hours going through those books. They are a real treat.

[windcliff]

My dead tree right now is Room 1219. The Life Of Fatty Arbuckle, The Mysterious Death of Virginia Rappe, And The Scandal That Changed Hollywood.

[Salvation]

St. Francis of Assisi by G. K. Chesterton

[Salvation]

Always the dead tree version......go out and plant a tree.

[ProtectOurFreedom]

Hardcover or paperback, almost all used from the hundreds of book sellers on Amazon. I usually get the books for $1 to $5 plus $4 shipping...a real bargain. My wife reads her iPad ebooks at night now, but I can't let go of the old habit of holding a book in my hands.

Many of the books in my "pending" pile are from FR Reading Threads; I find the most wonderful recommendations on these reading threads! Keep 'em coming, folks.

Currently reading "The Virginian: A Horseman of the Plains" by Owen Wister. This 1902 book was the prototype of all Western novels that followed. Mr. Wister is a great story-teller and there are numerous hilarious subplots.

[Rocky]

It’s paper for me, except for current events. Then, of course, it’s FreeRepublic. I would be reading a lot more books if not for FreeRepublic.

Here’s my favorite of recently read books:

Darwin’s Doubt by Stephen C. Meyer

[libstripper]

The problem with dead trees is they can drive you out of your house and bankrupt you very quickly. One seven shelf bookcase, 7 feet tall by 2 feet wide from Office Depot costs about $285.00. It holds about 140 books. There are now four in my living room at a total cost of a little less than $1,200 and there’s no more wall spac for any more. They can hold a total of 560 DTBs (Dead Tree Books). OTOH a single $150.00 Kindle holds 1,100 electronic books and can access and additional infinite number in the Amazon cloud. If it’s an iPad or similar advanced device it can do an infinity of additional tasks.

[niteowl77]

Be sure to get yourself a set of "Ingenious Mechanisms for Designers and Inventors."

Thanks for the tip! That looks interesting.

Mr. niteowl77

[ProtectOurFreedom]

Expensive, but you can immerse yourself for days in the mechanical wonders. I still remember learning about Geneva Mechanisms in the book. All that is gone now, of course, replaced with electronic control of motion.

[SES1066]

If it’s an iPad or similar advanced device it can do an infinity of additional tasks.

Not the least is keeping up with FR late at night or first thing in the AM!

New one to the tech minded. My Brother is a quad and in July a subcutaneous abscess suddenly manifested that required him to be in bed rest for all but a couple hours of the day. Unfortunately, it wasn't till the end of August that I discovered that the iPad had several apps for 'virtual machine' control of the desktop computers. Not to wish misfortune upon any of you, but this technology is so very great for those of us who cannot handle things normally. This is the great promise of technology, how it enables those who otherwise cannot!

[kanawa]