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Originally Posted by J. Strnad
However, it may be excellent for a particular type of content, of which you can store a thousand or more on the device, which can be downloaded in a minute from thousands of miles away, and which can be made available in the first place, electronically, while a paper version might well be economically unfeasible.
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Nora Roberts just smiled!
Quote:
Originally Posted by Fastolfe
I use it all the time: as a standalone dictionary, it's a lot faster to search than a dead tree version.
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I'm curious about the thought processes behind referring to things as "dead tree" versions: do you do this for everything that has wood in it, or is it specially reserved for heaping scorn upon printed books? I have resisted the urge to call my coffee table (and about 90% of everything in my home) a dead tree coffee table up till now, but maybe I should start? If you can make it convincing I just may do this. (Might annoy my wife if I do it for everything with wood in it that is clearly no longer living though)
Quote:
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Originally Posted by Fastolfe
Finally, if you read a lot, they're supposedly good for the planet because they save trees - if you care about that sort of thing.
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Yes, but we forget so easily don't we? The resources consumed in manufacturing and then disposing of our e-products have about as much blood on their hands as anything else.
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Originally Posted by Steven Lyle Jordan
Seriously, why would anyone smell a book?
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Feeling paper, smelling paper... all of that is just habit and familiarity talking.
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Why do people smell wine? Speaking personally, the smell of a book speaks about the quality of a book and the processes used to bring about the result. Mass market paperbacks and finely milled paper stock from France DO NOT smell the same, have the same texture, or the same inherent qualities. A quick whiff can cue you in much faster than traveling to the manufacturing facilities to prove it to yourself.
Dismissing all of the anecdotal stories concerning olfactory associations and whatnot (which are undeniable), there is the brute, raw fact that different processes result in different smells and quality processes and materials will very frequently smell different from low quality processes and materials. You buy a well made and traditionally bound book and you want to smell certain things or you become suspect of the quality itself. Leathers have distinct odors, papers have distinct odors, quality books should have heft, et cetera.
Now, this is just what I do. Others may be doing nothing beyond the usual associations.