A bit of a surprise

[Ripplinger]

The only time I now buy paperbacks is when I want to scan an old novel that's out of print and will never be published as an ebook. And then I toss it. Being able to adjust font size for me is huge and I'll never give that up.

[piper28]

I don't really read real books anymore. Just too convenient to use the kindle. My biggest problem right now is getting over the psychological hurdle of realizing that the thousand or so paper books I have in the house are basically worthless. It's hard to recognize that and get rid of them.

We went electronic partly because I like gadgets and partly because we had so many books we were starting to get to the options point:
1) Move house.
2) Get rid of some books.
3) Put the books in the house and actually live in a tent in the garden.
4) Go electronic.

Nowadays, we're gradually coverting the paper novels to electronic; if I want to read one of our few remaining paper books, I scan it and check the OCR as I read. I tend to take the view that if you have an e-reader, it makes sense to convert over completely. It's a long job, though! :-)

[GeoffR]

Originally Posted by Xanthe

What has really spoiled me is the ability to adjust the font sizes with ereaders.

That's what surprised me most when I went to read a paperback again. I never thought of the type being too small when I was reading mainly paperbacks, but after just a few months of having a choice with an ereader I found I had settled on a comfortable font size that is quite a bit larger.

[Katsunami]

Originally Posted by Jen_Smith

Nowadays, we're gradually coverting the paper novels to electronic; if I want to read one of our few remaining paper books, I scan it and check the OCR as I read. I tend to take the view that if you have an e-reader, it makes sense to convert over completely. It's a long job, though! :-)

Some books are so cheap, that it's not worth to put the time into scanning, OCR-ing and checking. If I can get the book for $5.99, compared to hours of scanning and correcting, then I'll gladly pay for the book and make someone else happy with the paper version.

I've converted one 1200 page book into an e-book, and I even didn't have to do the OCR. I used an... uh... found version, that had very good OCR, but very bad layout. Fixing this book, even without having to do the OCR, took so much time that I'm never going to do this again.

[Chi Cygni]

Count me in. I had a few attempts at a paper brick which I bought as I loved the book first time I read it many years ago. I. just. can't. I also repurchased last week a few historical behemoths I already own on paper and each of them is over a thousand pages long, bigger than A4 size. The mere thought of handling such paper giant is intimidating. I was also amazed how my little K3 easily swallowed them all, with room to spare. Last year I read 2 pbooks and over 50 ebooks. This year only ebooks so far.

[Sydney's Mom]

I feel 'ya. Not only is it far better for reading at night (white letters on black background, doesn't matter how you hold it, it is very readable) but I have a books from every genre I am interested in on my kindle. If I am sick of political books, I can read nonfiction or romance, or . . .

[bbqncigars]

The only pbooks I've bought in the last few years were graphic novels. Mostly hardcover volumes of Girl Genius. The pdf versions are fine on a large monitor, but not acceptable on a small screen.

[DrNefario]

Originally Posted by Jen_Smith

We went electronic partly because I like gadgets and partly because we had so many books we were starting to get to the options point:
1) Move house.
2) Get rid of some books.
3) Put the books in the house and actually live in a tent in the garden.
4) Go electronic.

Nowadays, we're gradually coverting the paper novels to electronic; if I want to read one of our few remaining paper books, I scan it and check the OCR as I read. I tend to take the view that if you have an e-reader, it makes sense to convert over completely. It's a long job, though! :-)

The space thing was probably the biggest issue for me, too. Oddly, it's one of the reasons I've been reading paper books this year: many of them I can get rid of once I've read them, and I get the space back. Digitising my collection seems like a lot of effort for no particular gain.

[Xanthe]

I just can't make myself get rid of all my paperbacks and hardcovers, though. So although I'm not really adding more to the space congestion, I'm not clearing it up.

[cromag]

Originally Posted by Dr. Drib

What's the name of this book that's thicker than 'Shogun'?

---Really curious, since I like big, thick novels.




Don

You need to prop a door open in a breeze?


I find ebooks more convenient to buy and my ereader is easier to manage than large books -- but I will admit I'm primarily driven by price. I just got the latest "Ceepak" mystery, by Chris Grabenstein, in hardcover at the public
library since they were asking far more than I could afford for the ebook. I also stop in at the local used book store whenever I get the chance.

[SeaKing]

I was in the service a long time, and afterwards, I contracted and still traveled a lot.

Paperback books were a stable like breakfast cereal. I still love them especially if I can get them cheap at a dollar store or 2nd hand ON line.

In the service, we would trade them around and it was the rare book when it was discarded that wasn't in rather pitiful shape from being read and reread and bent and being crammed into pockets so much.

Sometimes we would actually use the worse ones for kindling to start a fire and in emergencies for toilet paper.

Hardbound didn't have the utility. In fact I have seen hardbound books have the covers torn off and the back and spine taped up to make it easier to carry.

Sometimes we would trade blind 200 paperbacks to another group for the same. There was always something different in the bag.

[pholy]

Originally Posted by Dr. Drib

What's the name of this book that's thicker than 'Shogun'?

---Really curious, since I like big, thick novels.

Don

Ahh, yes.... You're the fellow that likes zombies (of all sorts?).

[soulfuldog]

Originally Posted by SeaKing

Sometimes we would actually use the worse ones for kindling to start a fire and in emergencies for toilet paper.

Yes, the only downside of e-readers, can't be used for emergency toilet paper when you are in dire need while camping in the middle of nowhere.

[Timoleon]

Originally Posted by Dr. Drib

What's the name of this book that's thicker than 'Shogun'?

---Really curious, since I like big, thick novels.




Don

You might enjoy reading "The Life of Millard Fillmore, Volume I, Age 0 to 9", which checks in at a hefty 1,519 pages.