10 reasons why "real" books are better than e-books, supposedly

[Alexander Turcic]

If you haven't already heard, like you know, about a gazillion times why paper books are supposedly better than e-books, then the following list of 10 reasons (via BuzzFeed) will be completely new to you. Otherwise feel free to skip in its entirety.

1. You can read books in the bath.
2. No need to turn off your book on a plane!
3. You can read in the sun.
4. They fill your shelves.
5. Antique books are amazing.
6. You can’t get an e-book signed.
7. Libraries and bookstores!
8. Finishing a long book is more rewarding this way.
9. They inspire tattoos!
10. Books don’t die.

[image by Luca Mascaro via Flickr]

[HansTWN]

Originally Posted by Alexander Turcic

If you haven't already heard, like you know, about a gazillion times why paper books are supposedly better than e-books, then the following list of 10 reasons (via BuzzFeed) will be completely new to you. Otherwise feel free to skip in its entirety.

1. You can read books in the bath.
2. No need to turn off your book on a plane!
3. You can read in the sun.
4. They fill your shelves.
5. Antique books are amazing.
6. You can’t get an e-book signed.
7. Libraries and bookstores!
8. Finishing a long book is more rewarding this way.
9. They inspire tattoos!
10. Books don’t die.

[image by Luca Mascaro via Flickr]

Only #4, 5, and 6 are correct. #2 is easily taken care of, get a window seat and a good cover. And #4 definitely is not an advantage. For everything else ereaders are at least as good, in most cases better. Not to mention the multitude of reasons why real books are better than pbooks!

[Kumabjorn]

I think #7 refers to physical stores and libraries, not virtual. You'd think someone who enjoys reading would make the distinction in writing.

[Graham]

What? I have an eReader and now I'm no longer allowed to use and enjoy real books as well? I'm not allowed to go into bookshops and libraries?

They really didn't make that clear when I bought it.

Graham

[Mivo]

You can read books in the bath.

Same with an e-book, and the latter I can even read in the shower if I put it into a transparent plastic bag!

No need to turn off your book on a plane!

Airplane mode (Wifi disabled) should do the trick.

You can read in the sun.

E-ink readers work fine in the sun and don't yellow in the process.

They fill your shelves.

Unfortunately they do! That's why I switched to e-books some years back.

Antique books are amazing.

Pretty, but impractical. I have some of the very early English language books on Go (Asian board game) that I don't even dare to open on a regular basis because I worry about damaging them.

You can’t get an e-book signed.

Unimaginative, just get the e-reader signed on the back.

Libraries and bookstores!

Never been an advantage for me since I mostly read English literature and always had to import the books (and wait two weeks or longer), provided what I wanted wasn't OOP.

Finishing a long book is more rewarding this way.

In the "Gosh, another thing that now collects dust." way. I find it (pathetically) more rewarding to have my e-reader post to Facebook that I finished a book. Because, you know, the world is eager to know when we read a book, and what we had for breakfast.

They inspire tattoos!

So do e-books: Tattoo your favorite author's signature on your skin! Also addresses the autograph issue from before. Two-in-one solution.

Books don’t die.

Sure they do. Lost plenty when a water pipe burst, and they get eaten by bugs and garbage-binned by midlife crisis ("too much clutter in my life"). E-books can be backuped, which was one of the chief reasons I swapped to digital books.

The one thing that I miss about e-books is the new book smell. But I can just buy a new e-reader every few months and stick my nose in the packaging for a while.

[yue]

A book is a book. I don't care about the format.

[applesauce]

I parted with the last of my paper books a week or so ago. 5 x 55 litre crates full. I even got rid of all the childrens books I had for my children except for 3 or 4 which are favourites. I seriously think by the time my kids give me those grandbabies, it will be more than 10 years. They are only 19 and at uni. ao I think my grandbabies will learn to read on tablets at first, then progress to ebook readers when they are no longer books with pictures.

applesauce

[Sregener]

Call me a sentimental old fool, but when my children bring me a book to read and I find the inscription in the front cover of when it was given to me as a child, I find it more special than a second copy we bought at a bookstore. There's something about handing a physical book down through the generations that feels different. And whether eBooks purchased today will even be readable in another generation is very much a matter of faith.

eBooks are a disposable format. Physical books are a permanent one. Both have their advantages.

[ProfCrash]

Agreed both have their advantages but I am not worried about being able to read them years down the road. There are ways you can deal with that if you want to. It is no different then moving from a CD to an MP3 to whatever the cloud to whatever form music takes. Once the DRM is gone, you have the ability to reformat the document into what ever the latest and greatest is or even a PDF which seems to go every where.

As for the rest of the list (shrugs). Too each their own. I bought an e-reader because I did not want to purge books and needed a new bookshelf. The FAA is going to allow battery operated devices to be used on a plane at all phases of flight soon so that is no biggie. How many people have antique books? Really?

I read hard back books to my 13 month old son. He will be reading paper books for a while but will move into ebooks as he hits chapter books. There is no reason he cannot read both. I strongly prefer ebooks so I don't see myself returning to a paper book any time soon.

I do agree that it is nice to find a books with a hand written inscription in them. The memory is precious. I don't have too many of those since most people who gave me books gave them to me without an inscription. I will probably hold onto baby boys books to give to him when he has a kid, or at least his favorites, which is pretty much all of them.

[Gunnerp245]

Originally Posted by yue

A book is a book. I don't care about the format.

Exactly!

[DiapDealer]

Of course both have their advantages. Trying to list--definitively--those reasons why one is "better" than the other is the part that's pointless and has no advantage. There is no convincing argument--no coup de grace--for either side. Because both win. What's "better": winning one million dollars or winning two million dollars?

[Rob Lister]

Originally Posted by Mivo

E-books can be backuped,...

I approve of this word.

[Asawi]

I take it this is made just for fun, probably not by an avid reader/book lover, but I'll give my view anyway:

1. You can read books in the bath.

Never ever felt any need for this! I know others do, and I have read here about MR members using zip-lock bags for their e-readers. And FWIW, the bathtub isn't exactly a "healthy" place for paperbooks.

2. No need to turn off your book on a plane!

True! But this will not be an issue with new safety rules coming

3. You can read in the sun.

Why make a list about something you don't have a clue about?! Eink devices are perfect for reading in the sun!

4. They fill your shelves.

They sure do! And that is uch a HUGE disadvantage! A true book lover doesn't have any empty shelf space to fill up! Shelves are alreay filled, and there are stacks of books waiting for a resting place!

5. Antique books are amazing.

Absolutely! And my guess is that not many people actually read them, but rather read reprints or similar to conserve those items of beauty!

6. You can’t get an e-book signed.

Like someone else said: Be imaginative if that's what you want! Me? I don't care much foor having books signes.

7. Libraries and bookstores!

What about them?? They still exist and I can still go there and look at paperbooks should I want to. There is also the incredibly convenient e-libraries and e-bookstores!

8. Finishing a long book is more rewarding this way.

Is it??? Not for me!

9. They inspire tattoos!

Why do they inspire more than e-books??

10. Books don’t die.

True. But should there be a fire or flooding in my house I would loose loads and loads of paper books. My ebook library is backed up and saved in multiple places.
Oh, just remembered, my dog chewed on a couple of paper books when he was a puppy. The closest he came to destroying electronics was a USB lead that he "modified"...

[AnemicOak]

Why does one need to be better than the other?

[applesauce]

I think it is like this........
one is better than the other for some
neither is better than the other for some.
The reasons why are the long list.
I choose ebooks every time because I have disabilities that make paper books nothing more than door stops, when it comes to uses.

applesauce