[circlecity]

"That is why lawyersgo to Lexis and Westlaw before hard copy."

Westlaw (which I use everyday) is sophisticated boolean search software and has capabilities way, way beyond anything kindle, nook or the like has. Further, finding margin notes or going back and forth between pages to find a passage you remember is much more tedious in the typical e-reader than with paper and cardboard. But, to each his own. Use whatever works for you.

[Dr. Sivana]

Further, finding margin notes or going back and forth between pages to find a passage you remember is much more tedious in the typical e-reader than with paper and cardboard.But, to each his own. Use whatever works for you.

I wasn't comparing reference books on a Kindle to hard copy, but digital reference books versus hard copy. It would be trivial for Amazon to add equally sophisticated boolean searches, and such readers may already exist. Obviously, for those who write notes in the margin, no current pad or reader renders that functionality very well. I use a desktop for most of my e-reading, and an iPod Touch for the rest. The ultimate reference book is the Holy Bible. I can search my preferred version on DRBO.ORG very easily, though for straight reading I prefer a hard copy, and I don't see myself carrying an iPad into Mass any time soon to replace the Missal, though good software for that purpose already exists. For those who worry about digital copies being "corrected" by PC forces, just save you old PDF copy to a thumb drive, label it, and put it away.