The Reading Vent & Rant Thread

[Apache]

Originally Posted by JSWolf

The best Dracula movie ever is Love at First Bite.

I also think the best Zorro movie is Zorro the Gay Blade.
Apache

[Quoth]

Originally Posted by Rellwood

I hate this. I have been a serious reader all my life, and now being forced to give up the printed page in favor of the e-reader sucks.

I have friend keen on reading and electronics and he can't do either now due to macular degeneration.

Years ago they gave people video cameras that plugged into TV so they could read books. But my mother-in-law found that too much bother and didn't like the audio books for the Blind either. Now there is a mass market in audio books, but they are expensive and my friend doesn't like audio books.

[Apache]

Originally Posted by Quoth

I have friend keen on reading and electronics and he can't do either now due to macular degeneration.

Years ago they gave people video cameras that plugged into TV so they could read books. But my mother-in-law found that too much bother and didn't like the audio books for the Blind either. Now there is a mass market in audio books, but they are expensive and my friend doesn't like audio books.

My mother has Macular degeneration and has for many years. You reach a point that magnification cannot help at all. In the US the Federal and State Government provide free audiobooks to the visually impaired. This is handled through the state's Library System. You let them know authors and genre that you like, and they do their best to provide you the books you want. They supply the audio player and the books free of charge. The books also come with a return mailing label too. My mother loves this and goes through books like a beaver through a tree. The system works so well that she always has books waiting to be read. No waiting at all.
Apache

[Renate]

Originally Posted by Quoth

I have friend keen on reading and electronics and he can't do either now due to macular degeneration.

I'm sorry to hear that.

Electronics has gotten to the point that it's usual to have a microscope on your desk even with normal vision.
I too have a little USB microscope and I'm always considering something better.

[DNSB]

Originally Posted by Rellwood

I hate this. I have been a serious reader all my life, and now being forced to give up the printed page in favor of the e-reader sucks.

I gave up on printed books about 15 years back. When I got my first eInk ereader, it cemented the decision. I can still read printed books though I prefer the large print versions now but see no reason to. My ereader is lighter, allows me to carry more books with me and to modify the font size to my preferences.

OTOH, I can't understand what reading ebooks has to do with being a serious reader.

[theducks]

Macular takes on different distortions. My left eye is so wavy that it is impossible to read a line of text even tho it is a normal size and bright.
I resort to a Pirates patch. to keep from running into things. Argh!
The other is getting dim, but I still read normal (paperback) sized text, just use a lot of light. LED bulbs save my electric bill (CA has some of the most expensive KWH in the states )

[Sirtel]

Originally Posted by DNSB

I gave up on printed books about 15 years back. When I got my first eInk ereader, it cemented the decision. I can still read printed books though I prefer the large print versions now but see no reason to. My ereader is lighter, allows me to carry more books with me and to modify the font size to my preferences.

OTOH, I can't understand what reading ebooks has to do with being a serious reader.

I also have read very few paper books in the last 10 years. Only those that have no digital edition at all. I have no problems with reading print (yet), I just don't want to. Paper books are heavy, uncomfortable, there is often too little contrast (faded, grey or just poorly chosen font), can't search or use the dictionary and so on. No thanks.

[ownedbycats]

Originally Posted by Sirtel

I also have read very few paper books in the last 10 years. Only those that have no digital edition at all.

Open Library can be good for those, but they've heavily restricted things in recent years due to the copyright lawsuits Most things can only be read in-browser now, no more downloads - though I'lll note the ePubs were not very good and the PDFs tended to choke up Kobos.

[Sirtel]

Originally Posted by ownedbycats

Open Library can be good for those, but they've heavily restricted things in recent years due to the copyright lawsuits Most things can only be read in-browser now, no more downloads - though I'lll note the ePubs were not very good and the PDFs tended to choke up Kobos.

Most paper books I've read have been local books in Estonian, so almost certainly not available in Open Library or elsewhere. It's not uncommon here to release books only on paper. I've written about this to local publishers several times, but usually they only shrug and say most readers aren't interested in ebooks. Which seems to be sadly true here.

Anyway, as 90% of my reading is in English (Estonian books are expensive and ebook borrowing from libraries doesn't exist), it's not that huge a problem for me; if I only read in my native language, I'd be furious.

[Renate]

Originally Posted by theducks

Macular takes on different distortions. My left eye is so wavy...

I guess that's why you go walking out with a duck on either side of you?

Originally Posted by theducks

LED bulbs save my electric bill (CA has some of the most expensive KWH in the states )

Try solar. My bill hasn't gone up in seven years.

[Aleron Ives]

Originally Posted by DNSB

OTOH, I can't understand what reading ebooks has to do with being a serious reader.

That's not the point. The point is being forced to change a longstanding behaviour by forces beyond your control, which is hard for everybody. Surely it would be even harder if e-books didn't exist, and Rellwood had to give up reading entirely, but that still doesn't make the process of getting older and losing things you used to enjoy -- even when you can replace those things with other, similar things -- easy.

[Sirtel]

Originally Posted by Aleron Ives

That's not the point. The point is being forced to change a longstanding behaviour by forces beyond your control, which is hard for everybody. Surely it would be even harder if e-books didn't exist, and Rellwood had to give up reading entirely, but that still doesn't make the process of getting older and losing things you used to enjoy -- even when you can replace those things with other, similar things -- easy.

Still, that phrase "serious reader" sounded suspiciously like it meant "serious readers read paper books", which is an attitude many members here are pretty sensitive to, as it has been expressed numerous times by various snobs over the years. If you adopted ebooks only recently, you have possibly not encountered that sentiment (yet). Rellwood might not have actually meant it that way, but that was what it sounded like.

[ZodWallop]

Originally Posted by Sirtel

Still, that phrase "serious reader" sounded suspiciously like it meant "serious readers read paper books", which is an attitude many members here are pretty sensitive to...

And those members need to chill out.

[Sirtel]

Originally Posted by ZodWallop

And those members need to chill out.

Why? It's a Vent & Rant Thread.

[Renate]

Originally Posted by Aleron Ives

The point is being forced to change a longstanding behaviour by forces beyond your control...

That's called life.