"I Won't Read a Great Novel on an eReader"

[AlbertaCowboy]

Originally Posted by BenLee

“I do not want to read a great novel on an e-reader,” he said. “There is something about the experience of holding a book and reading it.”

There IS something positive to be said about reading a classic on paper. I love HarryT's Sherlock Holmes Omnibus on my 505, for example, but sometimes I like to lug out my big green cloth covered annotated editions. Why? Not sure. I guess for the same reasons that every now and then I like to hook up my old NES and play Ninja Gaiden. Sometimes the old formats just fit the way you want to experience them that day. Do I want to read the 45 pound gigantic, binding fraying, musty old book every day? Nope. Do I like to pull it off the shelf even just to flip the pages and look at the illustrations? You bet.

[Solicitous]

Originally Posted by Sweetpea

I forsee a glorious role for paper books. They will be treasures. They will also be more expensive, but who cares, they'll be collector's items.

The paperbacks will disappear, in favor for electronic. But the hardbacks will be works of art. Something you will want to show in the living room. So, you'll have author Yyy's latest novel on your reader only, and Watership Down on display in your livingroom.

I find comments like this rather intriguing. I look at the future of ebooks to be like what happened with music. Once upon a time you bought a record, came home, blew any fluff off it, put the record on with a set of headphones and listened to it whilst reading the cover. Similar with tapes, you took off the plastic, in went the cassette, you read the sleeve (sometimes with lyrics) and you had a ball. CDs were very similar to cassettes in that respect.

Then came MP3s and they were going to kill CDs. Music shops still exist, CDs are still bought and sold. Now of the people I know who buy MP3s still buy a CD of their favourite music and only buy MP3s for mainstream songs they like to have. I do the same with ebooks, buy mainstream books that I want to read but buy the paperbacks of books that I really like and for no real recognised reason I just want to have sitting on my shelf.

I guess what I saying is I don't see how books will become treasures. Records and LPs are a thing of the past and some die-hard people adore them, but they can be picked up for a few dollars at any sale or second hand place. Ebooks IMHO just represent a new way of accessing literature. Is it better than reading paperbacks? Comes down to the individual person. I never had to charge my old paperbacks but then I have never had sore hands after using my ereader for prolonged periods of time (I read large books).

[boswd]

Originally Posted by Sweetpea

I don't understand this... Why can't you read Watership Down in digital format, but can read author Yyy's latest novel?


I forsee a glorious role for paper books. They will be treasures. They will also be more expensive, but who cares, they'll be collector's items.

The paperbacks will disappear, in favor for electronic. But the hardbacks will be works of art. Something you will want to show in the living room. So, you'll have author Yyy's latest novel on your reader only, and Watership Down on display in your livingroom.

well you have to remember that everyone has different tastes etc.
I'm not talking about touting Watership Down around and everywhere I go, commuting to work, out by the pool etc. This is where I truely am in love with my nook.

For me certain beloved novels I own and I'm one those who HAS to own a classic or a beloved novel in Hardcover. And when I read those, I have my own special time and spot. it's a little weird but just me. I love reading those in my den with my drink of choice , or out on my deck on a nice quiet morning with my coffee.
To me nothing will ever replace that experience that I get with a Hardcover Classic. (not all hardcovers, mind you) just certain ones. The ones that made us fall in love with reading

[Steven Lyle Jordan]

These discussions can frankly amaze me.

I'll be fifty this year. Needless to say, I grew up with books. Great ones and silly ones. I've got hundreds of them. But when I read, I am capable of becoming completely engrossed in the book. And when I'm engrossed, it doesn't matter if I'm in my home, on a beach or on a commuter train, reading from paper, PC or cellphone... I see and hear nothing of that. I am only aware of the book, and even the process of advancing to the next page happens unconsciously, a reflex I barely notice.

When I hear about all the preparations some people need to read and enjoy a book, I can only think: There must be something wrong with the book, if it can't hold your attention without immersing yourself in an isolation environment.

And when I hear about the "touch, feel and smell" of paper, I can only think: You're engaging all but the proper organs... the eyes, and the mind. Put the rest on standby, and read your book!

I'm not saying I pity anyone who can't "read a Great Novel on an eReader," or anything like that. But I do think you might want to work on those concentration skills...

[oggelbe2007]

Back about 5000 years ago some really smart Sumerian came up the idea of scratching marks on a clay tablet to record information on the current food stocks for his village. There was probably someone in the village screaming about how the old ways of recording food stocks with a goat stomach of stones was much better and the sound of the stones clicking together was part of the experience.

[SensualPoet]

Perhaps the poster meant he couldn't read classics like Fahrenheit 451 unless it was on paper ...

[SensualPoet]

Originally Posted by boswd

For me certain beloved novels I own and I'm one those who HAS to own a classic or a beloved novel in Hardcover. And when I read those, I have my own special time and spot. it's a little weird but just me. I love reading those in my den with my drink of choice , or out on my deck on a nice quiet morning with my coffee.
To me nothing will ever replace that experience that I get with a Hardcover Classic. (not all hardcovers, mind you) just certain ones. The ones that made us fall in love with reading

The point is, it's not about the words, it's about the "thing". Some people treasure their LPs; their kids might treasure their CDs; but when you want to listen to the music -- it's the music that counts.

Physical books have a role to play -- on the coffee table to display your taste or make a statement about what you believe in. But that's not reading.

King Lear is every bit as moving in e-ink as on paper. I suspect Shakespeare would have agreed.

[Worldwalker]

I'm a multi-sensory person. That is, for me an experience isn't just about the sight, or sound, or taste, or whatever. Think about eating dinner in a good restaurant. Not only is your meal tasty, it's plated in a visually appealing way with a nice garnish, your fork feels right in your hand, there's pleasant music in the background, and perhaps a vase of flowers on the table. It would still be the same food if it was dumped randomly on a plate, your fork was plastic, you had to listen to a local radio station whose format you hate, and the only thing you could smell was scorched grease from the Fry-o-Lator. But even though the food was the same, the experience wouldn't be as pleasant. I feel that way about most things. My taste in T-shirts depends less on what they look like (they're usually black anyway) and more on how the fabric feels when I wear it (how I miss the old Pluma extra-heavyweight tees). While the primary factor in choosing the breed of my cat was their intelligence, not only looks but the extra-soft feel of their fur came into it. And, yes, I like the feel of a book in my hand, the look of it on my shelf, the smell of it ... barely-dry ink in the new ones, old glue and a touch of mildew in the old ones, whatever it may happen to be.

And I have about 2,000 books from PG, etc., loaded on my 505. I read them on a daily basis. Great novels and all.

I enjoy the ritual of taking the 505 out of its stretchy sleeve, like laying out the tea implements. I love the smell of the M-Edge leather case, the feel of the leather, and the just-right weight of it. I open it up, feeling the slight bit of resistance as the closure tab pulls out of its slot, and see a blank screen, like a magic mirror into a thousand worlds, awaiting only a touch on its power switch to bring those worlds to life. And there it is, my great novel, opened to the page I left it at, all ready for reading. The page-turn buttons respond to my touch, and I read.

No, it's not the same experience as reading a paper book. Eating in a good Italian restaurant isn't the same experience as eating in a good Chinese restaurant, either. That doesn't mean that Italian food is bad because you can't eat linguine with chopsticks and they don't serve green tea. They're both good, and they're both enjoyable. Each has its own pleasures.

[FizzyWater]

Originally Posted by ardeegee

Whenever I'm reading a deadtree book now, I can't stop myself from keeping glancing down into the darned lower-right corner of the page to see the time!

I have a friend with an eBookwise and I have a Sony Touch. We swap stories about picking up a paper book a touching a word in it to "get the dictionary definition to pop up!"

And once, I was so ingrossed in a book, but something triggered a questions of what had been in the book blurb. Without even thinking, I turned my PDA over and looked at the back.

[Tamara]

Originally Posted by ardeegee

Whenever I'm reading a deadtree book now, I can't stop myself from keeping glancing down into the darned lower-right corner of the page to see the time!

In my case, it's glancing up at the top of the page.

[SameOldStory]

Originally Posted by ardeegee

Max Planck once said "Science advances one funeral at a time." So will it be with e-books. Over time, the people who must read a book on paper will all grow old and die.

I'm giving away most of my books because when I die my wife will just get rid of them. I'm down to 2 bookcases out of 6 packed bookcases (+ some boxes).

The only things that I miss are the book spines and covers.

When I do die she can just toss my reader in the coffin with me.

Originally Posted by Steve Jordan

But when I read, I am capable of becoming completely engrossed in the book. And when I'm engrossed, it doesn't matter if I'm in my home, on a beach or on a commuter train, reading from paper, PC or cellphone... I see and hear nothing of that. I am only aware of the book, and even the process of advancing to the next page happens unconsciously, a reflex I barely notice.

Exactly. It's the story, stupid. Paper book or reader. It boils down to the story.

A person I work with will ONLY read hardback books. I gave a book that I really liked to a neighbors kid who likes to read. He gave it back. He NEVER reads used books.

We're all different in the end, no matter how much we're the same in other ways.

[ardeegee]

Originally Posted by Worldwalker

Think about eating dinner in a good restaurant. Not only is your meal tasty, it's plated in a visually appealing way with a nice garnish, your fork feels right in your hand, there's pleasant music in the background, and perhaps a vase of flowers on the table.

If that's what floats your boat. Here's my idea of a meal-- I cook something that I can eat easily with my right hand without paying it much attention while I hold a book in the left one and read. I finish as soon as possible so that I can pay more attention to reading (or doing something else.) I couldn't care less about "fancy restaurants" or any of the sensory crap that goes along with them. (Why, yes, I am single. How did you guess?)

[BenLee]

I do have to admit that there are some things about paper books that possess a certain charm that eReaders may not be able to reproduce. Things like mis-aligned, faded text... The smell of old paper.... yellowing of pages, random left behind notes of a used book, the ability to rapidly flip through it... papercuts (actual, this one I can do without)...

It seems like a sense of charm may come from imperfections and unique qualities. Turning words digital and displaying them perfectly everytime just about kills any of that "charm" you may find appealing in a book. You no longer own something that you can uniquely call yours (even if the uniqueness is just in the frayed corners or wrinkled front cover).

This could be compared to how some people just cannot stand music that is digitally produced like trance, techno, etc. They think it's soulless and robotic.

[J. Strnad]

I miss vellum. There's something about words written on animal skin that engages my senses in a way that words on paper can't. In particular, I miss the books written on human skin. But that's probably just me....

Okay, seriously:

There is nothing essentially pleasant about the smell of book paper. Nobody buys "book paper" cologne or room freshener. The only reason the smell appeals to people is because of the association with the pleasurable act of reading.

Same with turning pages. If someone receives pleasure purely from the act of turning pages, without the reading experience, that person is insane.

These things bring pleasure only through association with the pleasure of reading. Certainly people who have trouble reading, such as the dyslexic kid who struggles through school, aren't likely to have these pleasant associations.

I was pleasantly surprised by the ereading experience. I doubt I'm the only one. My wife loved it instantly!

As more people try it, more people will find pleasant associations with ereading.

About hardbacks enduring and becoming valuable and paperbacks being forgotten: nonsense! Look at how valued the old pulp magazines of yesteryear are today! In fact, it is very often the most common and disposable items of the past that become the collector's items. Taken for granted, tossed into the trash, the discards are doomed to intransience; those items that manage somehow, miraculously, to escape their fate as trash, as detritus, as landfill, they become all the more precious. Anybody got an extra copy of Action Comics #1 sitting around?

[eosrose]

I do most of my reading on my computer or online, but I do still find reading a book easier than reading on a screen--no glare, and no lines repeated from page-to-page. If I really want to lose myself in the story, I'll take out the paper version. Hopefully someday I'll find a reader that really does have the same level of readability as a book, but it hasn't happened yet.