MobileRead Forums - View Single Post

PsyDocJoanne · 09-25-2008, 02:34 PM

Hi balok!

Just to keep our witty banter going--

>I suppose the average stressed out North American doesn't have time for that

I'm lucky enough to be able to (mostly) choose what I spend my time doing, and trekking to the library and back doesn't make my top 10. I'd rather invest the 5 minutes or so to download, and then spend the other 55 reading, not in transit or searching the library stacks.

>But I still think that for many people, while they may enjoy the novelty of ebooks

I think you'll find as time goes on, ebooks (and edocuments in general) will become the norm, not a novelty. I just had a discussion the other night with my husband about what drives the ebook market. He believes it's very technology-driven (what do you expect, he's an IT guy), that in effect as technology advances, people will have to keep up or be left behind. I think it's more of a populous-driven mechanism (what do you expect, I'm a psychologist), whereby reader demand compels the technology to advance. Whichever way you choose to slice and dice it, the bottom line remains the same: I believe that in 25 years, paper books and documents will be the novelty, in much the same way as antiquated music and data storage--remember that many kids today have never seen a 5.25 floppy, or a 48 record.

>I have limited interests. Most of the stuff in the public domain is pretty boring, in my opinion.

I can agree with you that theres a lot of snoozers in the public domain. But, just the other night, I did some searching around, and found the following in the public domain (caveat: interesting for me may not equal interesting to you, but...):

Studies in Forensic Psychiatry (Bernard Glueck)
Memoirs of Extraordinary Popular Delusions and the Madness of Crowds (Charles Mackay)
Harvard Psychological Studies, Vol 1 (Various)
An Inquiry Concerning Human Understanding (David Hume)
A Newly Discovered System of Electrical Medication (Daniel Clark)

Admittedly, many of those books are quite old, but extremely interesting to me nonetheless. I haven't yet searched a topic in the public domain that didn't produce vast and copious results.

>Just a lot of blah blah. Can't wait until my library saves me from this crapilacious ebook

I've read my way partially into some pretty heinous pbooks as well. Why wait around for the library to save you? Stop reading it and get something else (elementary, my dear Watson!). Don't blame the delivery device for the perceived shortcomings of an author.

Your turn, balok

09-25-2008, 02:34 PM	#87
PsyDocJoanne Loves her 505 and her Z4! Posts: 157 Karma: 631 Join Date: Jul 2008 Location: Weston, FL Device: Sony PRS-505	Hi balok! Just to keep our witty banter going-- >I suppose the average stressed out North American doesn't have time for that I'm lucky enough to be able to (mostly) choose what I spend my time doing, and trekking to the library and back doesn't make my top 10. I'd rather invest the 5 minutes or so to download, and then spend the other 55 reading, not in transit or searching the library stacks. >But I still think that for many people, while they may enjoy the novelty of ebooks I think you'll find as time goes on, ebooks (and edocuments in general) will become the norm, not a novelty. I just had a discussion the other night with my husband about what drives the ebook market. He believes it's very technology-driven (what do you expect, he's an IT guy), that in effect as technology advances, people will have to keep up or be left behind. I think it's more of a populous-driven mechanism (what do you expect, I'm a psychologist), whereby reader demand compels the technology to advance. Whichever way you choose to slice and dice it, the bottom line remains the same: I believe that in 25 years, paper books and documents will be the novelty, in much the same way as antiquated music and data storage--remember that many kids today have never seen a 5.25 floppy, or a 48 record. >I have limited interests. Most of the stuff in the public domain is pretty boring, in my opinion. I can agree with you that theres a lot of snoozers in the public domain. But, just the other night, I did some searching around, and found the following in the public domain (caveat: interesting for me may not equal interesting to you, but...): Studies in Forensic Psychiatry (Bernard Glueck) Memoirs of Extraordinary Popular Delusions and the Madness of Crowds (Charles Mackay) Harvard Psychological Studies, Vol 1 (Various) An Inquiry Concerning Human Understanding (David Hume) A Newly Discovered System of Electrical Medication (Daniel Clark) Admittedly, many of those books are quite old, but extremely interesting to me nonetheless. I haven't yet searched a topic in the public domain that didn't produce vast and copious results. >Just a lot of blah blah. Can't wait until my library saves me from this crapilacious ebook I've read my way partially into some pretty heinous pbooks as well. Why wait around for the library to save you? Stop reading it and get something else (elementary, my dear Watson!). Don't blame the delivery device for the perceived shortcomings of an author. Your turn, balok Last edited by PsyDocJoanne; 09-25-2008 at 02:41 PM.