"Beautiful, perfect, supreme chunk of paper"

[Falbe Publishing]

It's interesting to hear about how people like the feel of books, even their smell. I've loved reading since I was an adolescent, but I can't ever recall having any conscious like for the tactile feeling of a book in my hands, turning the pages, or perhaps its scent. It was always about the content for me. When I'm really into reading something, the medium, whether book or ebook reader, fades from my perception.

For the record I like books and ebooks. I like reading, and ebooks are just another way to read, which makes them a good thing.

[Taylor514ce]

Originally Posted by stustaff

Taylor not aiming this at you specifically just this opinion in General.

I dont get it! I read books for the content and would NEVER enjoy a book more because its printed on nice paper or in a good cover.
Im the same with Music and as long as the basic quality is good dont care if its on the radio or on CD or MP3.

I would equally enjoy a good story on a tatty 6th Hand paperback just as much as on a beautiful leather bound 1st edition.

Is it an age thing?

Thank you for making me think about this. Part of it is nostalgia, I assume. Being allowed to pick out one of Dad's books from the bookshelf and read it... or being allowed to get the mail and open the latest Reader's Digest. There was immense pleasure in those actions regardless of the story.

Another part was respect for a book or author you'd come to love. I've purchased "Watership Down" numerous times. It isn't as if I don't know the story, it's the fact that I DO know the story, and it's a story that deserves the best possible presentation, as an act of respect. I loved the non-fiction "Longitude", by Dava Sobel, so have purchased each edition.

Then too I recall reading to my children. Letting them hold the book, turn the pages, holding their little hands and guiding their fingers under the words.

I don't read Kipling in a nice, leather bound, gilt edged edition because I love the stories, per se, but because I love Kipling.

All of that said, my everyday and every day reading habits have shifted to e-books, because of the convenience, the portability, the joy of the hunt (it's easy to go to the bookstore and buy a cheap paperback, it's perversely more fun to badger publishers and prowl the internet), and the sense of belonging to a cutting-edge community of avant garde, computer-savvy, traveling book lovers.