Quote:
Originally Posted by Jaime_Astorga
When tablets become cheaper and more prominent, I am sure they can fulfill the role of reference material while one is doing something with their computer.
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Maybe tech advances will solve this problem, but I'm running into this with history and other nonfiction books:
While reading one book, I often want to cross-check others. Print books are still much better for that, offering easy flipping back and forth. When I read a print book, I also have a sense of where things were in the book, so I can flip through quickly and find things. With an e-book, that's lost. Even with a Kindle and an iPad (and netbooks and a laptop, if needed), I find print books less cumbersome for that kind of reading. And I'm reading for recreational learning. Students require even more of the flipping and having multiple books open.
Of course, you can search for words and phrases with e-books, but that's sometimes more cumbersome or more limiting than with print books. Not saying that e-books aren't great; just that there are tradeoffs.