Quote:
Originally Posted by leaston
Could I do that with any kind electronic device? Nope. Even a pdf on my laptop would have taken far longer and you just cannot look through books in the same way electronically..
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I don't think anyone would argue that there's situations (especially with regard to reference/research) that favor physical books. If you have a memory/mental image of how far into a book something occurs--and at what area of the printed page it falls on--"thumbing" is almost certain to get you there quicker and easier. Also, the experience of having numerous books open all around you when researching is hard to replicate with ebooks (unless you have access to many devices--and even then, it probably wouldn't be the same).
But, conversely, there's also no use arguing that those advantages negate any of the advantages ebooks have over printed books. What if you and your son had watched The Battle of Britain away from home? Would it be better to download/buy/search ebooks on your portable device/tablet and perhaps satisfy/pique his curiosity? Or would it be better to tell him he'll have to wait until you get back home?
And if you're trying to find a passage in an author's body of work--one you have no clue which particular book it might be in: will you find it quicker by grabbing books off a shelf or by doing a text search across all the books on your reading device?
There's no question that each has its own advantages/disadvantages--research/reference or otherwise.