[bchaplin]

I love paper books! When I am re-reading a book I really enjoyed, particularly one that I want to flip around an just read sections of, paper has an advantage.

If I could afford it, I would have a paper AND electronic version of every book that I find worth keeping. I trust that the paper books will be around in 10 or 20 years. I love scanning them on my shelves, which offers a visual satisfaction I don't get from a list in an eReader. And it makes me very nostalgic, because as a kid, browsing the books around my parents' and relatives' houses was one of the things that quietly introduced me to the idea that reading was something that smart, interesting people did. I do not have children, but I do have nieces, and it makes me wonder a little if the reduced presence of physical books in their environment will have an impact on them. (Right now, they have all the children's books they can hope for, but there are very few adult books in their house, for various reasons.)

But the truth is that my paper books right now reflect my reading preferences of 5-10 years ago, as the new ones are mostly electronic. Textbooks, religious books, and foreign language dictionaries are the exceptions.