How many people here have read
Farenheit 451?
I think it's important to have knowledge as widely distributed as possible. Too many things can go wrong if all the backups are in one place. (And it doesn't have to be a dystopic book-burning government-- there are plenty of natural disasters that can take out servers and backups-- or libraries.)
I'm wary of having my books depend on electricity or a specialized format. Though I'm an optimist by nature, I also tend to take the long view. Will I still be able to read these books if (when) there's a power crisis? Will my kids/grandkids etc. be able to read these? These both seem like reasonable questions to me. I would keep all the copies possible, backed up in the most basic format possible, with copies in a firesafe and (if possible) off-site. One of the reasons I'm attracted to eBooks is that it might be physically possible to do this and still have room to move in our house.
