The Atlantic: Ebooks Are an Abomination

[Sirtel]

Originally Posted by SteveEisenberg

I wonder if some committed mobile readers read non-fiction less because they would lose a bit of the content. If so, this is a genuine negative to society (although nothing like the decline of general interest newspapers and magazines).

As for me personally, yes. But not because I'd lose content. I prefer to read nonfiction in my native language and most nonfiction books here have no electronic edition at all. So I seldom read them, because I don't like to read paper books anymore.

[DiapDealer]

Originally Posted by Sirtel

Eh I dunno. I don't miss anything about paper books. Nothing at all, including the smell and the weight. Or bookmarks. Or page turning.

It's something I don't just get.

Paper books have their place. Books with many pictures and photos are better as paper, imo. But general text? No way.

Same. Never got into book-petting/sniffing. Was only ever interested in what I could get from the words.

That's not to say others' mileage shouldn't vary. Just noting that even before ebooks, there were voracious readers that simply weren't "booky".

[j.p.s]

Originally Posted by leebase

I think he has a point. There is definitely a thing "bookiness". My daughter, who would rather read a paper book, has long said the same thing - albeit with different words.

She misses the feel of progress, the book mark making it's way through the book. Sure, an ebook tells you that you are 33.6% through - but it's not meeting the same visceral feel. I agree with her. I love ebooks, but I miss the sense of the size of a book and the progress of the bookmark.

I love a good leather bible with gilded edges and red letters. The smell of the leather, the heft, the "this is holy" sense of the physical item.

Now, I can list the many advantages of an ebook and reading an ebook. It is far and away my favorite way to read. But I can understand why someone could value "bookiness".

That's all well and good, but none of it makes e-books an abomination.

[Sirtel]

Originally Posted by DiapDealer

Same. Never got into book-petting/sniffing. Was only ever interested in what I could get from the words.

That's not to say others' mileage shouldn't vary. Just noting that even before ebooks, there were voracious readers that simply weren't "booky".

Exactly. And it's not only tech geeks either. I'm usually a late adopter of any new tech (got my first cellphone in 2009, home internet and the first personal computer also in 2009, bought my first ebook in 2011.) And I've read paper books since early childhood. Nevertheless I never formed any special attachment to paper.

[issybird]

Originally Posted by leebase

Now, I can list the many advantages of an ebook and reading an ebook. It is far and away my favorite way to read. But I can understand why someone could value "bookiness".

Sure. There are things that books do better. There are things that I miss about books. I prefer ereading, but that doesn’t mean that books are the devil’s handiwork, yet the author seems to think the reverse.

Just last night: I was about to start an ebook about Britain in the 50s when a lightbulb went off; I realized that I had the paper book of the author’s preceding book about the immediate postwar period that I’d never got to and I figured I should read that first. I dug it out, and it’s not happening. Fat paperback, tiny font tightly displayed, mushy print on coarse paper. I could read it if I were motivated and desperate but I’m not, and since it’s not available as an ebook, that’s the end of it. There are a lot of books I’ll never read.

And when I think of the white display and crisp print on my Aura One, a font that’s infinitely adjustable, and no battle to keep the book open! So much for dim gray pages - in this case, it was the paper option.

[ZodWallop]

Originally Posted by leebase

I think he has a point. There is definitely a thing "bookiness".

For sure there is.

I also prefer to play video games at a stand-up cabinet that takes quarters. But that doesn't mean console and PC games are an abomination.

[Apache]

I will read on any median. That being said I prefer ebooks. But, if I get chosen for jury duty here I will be carrying paper. The courts here do not allow electronic devices in the courtrooms.
Apache

[SteveEisenberg]

Originally Posted by ZodWallop

But that doesn't mean console and PC games are an abomination.

The word abomination is in the article title, but not in the article itself. Non-fiction authors, whether of books or articles, don't get to pick their tiitles.

Terrible isn't in there either.

He does -- twice -- call our gadgets awful.

He also does refer to a "dim, gray screen." This is usually true for me, as I read in bright rooms, and thus turn off device lighting.

[handycrowd]

I like fiction paperbacks on holiday, but that's about it.

As for work and non-fiction books, you'd give up highlighting, note taking, and search for paper?? Jeeze, are you mad? ;-)

[salamanderjuice]

Originally Posted by DiapDealer

You'd be guessing, and not actually arguing. People buy at the price they're willing to pay for the format they prefer (whether that's an ebook format or a physical format), at the time they're ready to buy. There is no consensus.

As I've mentioned countless times in endless parades of threads like this: I don't even compare the price of a format I prefer to buy with price of a format I have zero intention of buying. It's irrelevant. If the price of the format I'm going to buy is currently too high for my comfort, I just wait until it's not any more. Same as it ever was.

The problem with all the "ebooks are too expensive" diatribes is that they're all predicated on everyone believing that ebooks are somehow inherently less valuable than their paper counterparts. But everyone doesn't believe that. Ebooks are inherently more valuable to me than their paper counterparts. The fact that I nearly always pay less for the ebook format of a title than the current available paper version of the same title is just icing on the cake.

It's an informed guess. Walk into a bookstore and note the percentage of hardcover to paperback, or that places like drug stores/wal-mart often don't even have hardcovers to sell or just a handful.

I find the quality of ebooks aren't as good despite costing the same or more. It doesn't feel to me anyways that the quality is as good. Yes, there is some advantages but there's also some ridiculous disadvantages like being DRM laden.

[Pulpmeister]

Me, I like my books to be in cuneiform on fired clay tablets. Don't go along with this ephemeral paper stuff.

[Sirtel]

Originally Posted by Pulpmeister

Me, I like my books to be in cuneiform on fired clay tablets. Don't go along with this ephemeral paper stuff.

No newfangled clay stuff for me. Stone tablets are The One True Way.

[DiapDealer]

Originally Posted by salamanderjuice

It's an informed guess. Walk into a bookstore and note the percentage of hardcover to paperback edition

Why? It doesn't matter. The cherry-picked few cases where ebooks are more expensive than print are not the rule. And as already noted: I don't care all that much how the prices of ebooks (that I value more) compare to the prices of print books (that I value not at all).

Originally Posted by salamanderjuice

Yes, there is some advantages but there's also some ridiculous disadvantages like being DRM laden.

I don't give the slightest hoot about DRM these days. It has zero impact on my valuation of ebooks. I'm not a curator; I'm a reader. I'm happy to let stores and libraries do all the curating. I'll stick to the reading.

[jhowell]

Originally Posted by Sirtel

No newfangled clay stuff for me. Stone tablets are The One True Way.

Ridiculous! The only true way is to pass stories down verbally from parent to child.

[Sirtel]

Originally Posted by DiapDealer

Why? It doesn't matter. The cherry-picked few cases where ebooks are more expensive than print are not the rule. And as already noted: I don't care all that much how the prices of ebooks (that I value more) compare to the prices of print books (that I value not at all).

I also never look at paper book prices. Either I buy the ebook or I'll wait until the price drops. Don't care what the paper edition costs, I'm not gonna buy it.