Is there still a need for paper books?

[elcreative]

Yes, great idea, toss the past, pulp the books and ignore everything that can't be viewed on a screen... whoops, there go 30 or 40 art/art history books, quick duck, there's a bunch of extra large format history/military history books going out (try sensibly looking at an A3 detail map covering a major battle on a screen - it needs looking at as a whole rather than zoom in/out scroll...) and as for that Gutenberg Bible... but never mind who needs that boring old stuff from before the 21st century... Glad that not all the world concurs with your personal opinion and narrow world view...

Originally Posted by jbcohen

I quite disagree. I have a field guide that I use for identifiying flowers in my neighborhood and I have them in electronic form only. I find that my blackberry is much more portable then any field guide and is much better at rendering the photos of the flowers that I see then the dead wood book is. In addition my purchase of the field guide includes updates and future editions, not something the dead wood would offer. Coffee table books, don't see the need. Photo albums, I have a digital photo frame.

Don't really see the need for printed or dead wood books in modern society. Personal opinion - we as a society are far to anchored in the past, cut ties with the past and full speed to the 22nd century warp factor 4.

[Steven Lyle Jordan]

The only kind of printed book whose design and accessibility can't be duplicated or bettered by digital media is a pop-up book.

[jbcohen]

Most of that has been converted to digital format. I simply have little use for printed books any more.

[DiapDealer]

I simply have little use for printed books any more.

"I" would be the key word in that phrase.

[elcreative]

Sorry... most of what?

Originally Posted by jbcohen

Most of that has been converted to digital format. I simply have little use for printed books any more.

[elcreative]

OK, tell me how my A3+ (when opened) book on the age of fighting sail, illustrated by many one and two page spreads of contemporary artwork, can be duplicated or bettered on digital media that I can afford... It's no good to me if you can make it work on the highest-end computer with a 5 foot ultra-high res screen, I have the book because I want to view and read it in my own home when I feel like it... it works because you can view large pieces of artwork at one go or look at fine detail when you wish, not the same as having to pan, scroll and zoom in and out...

Originally Posted by Steven Lyle Jordan

The only kind of printed book whose design and accessibility can't be duplicated or bettered by digital media is a pop-up book.

[ebusinesstutor]

Originally Posted by Steven Lyle Jordan

The only kind of printed book whose design and accessibility can't be duplicated or bettered by digital media is a pop-up book.

Ah, but wait for the 3D and holographic ebook readers!

[teadonkey]

I really dislike the Bible in ebook version. I find it super hard to navigate compared to leafing through pages.

I also would never buy my textbooks in an eversion. I spend so much time highlighting and writing in the margins and flipping back and forth to view diagrams. I'm in nursing and I just can't imagine trying to navigate a nursing textbook on my Kindle. (Although I can DEFINITELY see an advantage to having electronic versions of the reference books for the medical field, like the quick diagnosis/symptom books and the pill book.)

[astra]

Maybe in 15-20 years when the technology is sufficiently advanced for flexible, colour, whatever size needed eInk style screens with weeks of a battery life, the printed non-fiction books will start to fade away. Not until then though.

[mldavis2]

Originally Posted by elemenoP

Actually I recently bought the Sibley bird guide for my iphone, paid 30 bucks for an app!! I love it. I like to travel light when I'm birdwatching, so one less heavy book to lug around is great. It has some features that a book can't have, such as comparing two similar birds side by side, and listening to bird calls. And it's very quick to keep my "day list" (birds I saw on this outing) in the same app. I can also export the list as a CSV file. I love having my bird list as a spreadsheet instead of notes in a journal.

Even before the Sibley iphone app, there were different versions of the book: a bigger, heavier one for home use, and two smaller, lighter ones for the field. I do still enjoy perusing the bigger one at home. But I am loving the Sibley iphone app and I won't bring a field guide with me anymore.

A word of warning here. As an avid birdwatcher and conservationist, I should warn you that there is potential harm in using a portable device to play bird calls for the purpose of 'calling in' birds in the field. This is common knowledge with the ABC and other birding authorities, as it can cause confusion, alarm and interrupt normal behavior.

Back to lurk mode ...

[rhadin]

Originally Posted by Steven Lyle Jordan

The only kind of printed book whose design and accessibility can't be duplicated or bettered by digital media is a pop-up book.

With the new 3D printers, that might change.

[CHunter_Author]

Originally Posted by RainingLemur

There'll always be a need for paper books.

My sentiments exactly.

[Giggleton]

Originally Posted by boxcorner

I bought a natural history book recently - a wild flower identification guide. It is designed for field use, with colour-coded sections to facilitate identification, by flower colour, habitat, and so on. Flicking through it, it occurred to me that an e-book wouldn't be anywhere near as versatile. Are books intended for outdoor use a niche that might survive?

Flicking could be emulated in software. A small sample of your flower could be sent through an input port and have its DNA scanned for instant indentification and all relevant info would popup onto your "screen".

The Kindle probably doesn't work as a platform for decent field guides, the ipad might, but I don't have one of those