Do you need to have pbooks in your home?

[library addict]

I would keep some on hand in case the power goes out and your digital reader dies.

[pdurrant]

Originally Posted by crane3

Books are 'needed' in certain situations. I am in a 1 br apt so that the audio system is in the LR. Having some books & shelves in the LR helps disperse the sound waves because of the soft surfaces; the help depends on the kind of furniture in the room.

Books to improve the acoustics of a room? But you'll still only get the full stereophonic effect if you sit at the bottom of that cupboard

[tourneur]

Originally Posted by crane3

Books are 'needed' in certain situations. I am in a 1 br apt so that the audio system is in the LR. Having some books & shelves in the LR helps disperse the sound waves because of the soft surfaces; the help depends on the kind of furniture in the room.

Books and shelves are indeed one of the most inconspicuous and elegant ways to improve room acoustics.

Since getting an ereader I only read ebooks, but I do like my house to show what my interests are so I still like to have books on the wall. The only pbooks I consider buying now though are graphic novels and second hand books of my favorite titles.

[Fiat_Lux]

Originally Posted by Catlady

I have my original paperback copy of Gone with the Wind, which I bought as a sophomore in high school, not knowing anything about it. I love to see it on the bookshelf in all its tattered glory; it's got loose pages, taped-together spine, tearstains, underlinings, dog-eared corners--I read that copy again and again and would never willingly part with it. I have the digital version of course, and a couple of hardcover editions--I even have a copy of the exact paperback edition as my original that is in great condition, but it doesn't evoke the same memories.

The first copy of the YiJing I bought, currently has a cover taped together, with a transparent plastic sleeve stuck on it, with a thick protective plastic cover over it and rubber bands keeping everything together. It isn't the same as the same publisher, printing, and edition pristine replacement I purchased several years ago.

[radius]

Originally Posted by Tarana

That's why I tried to get my Mom to keep 12 p-books. She doesn't charge her Kindle as often as she should and the last emergency, she went 10 hours at the ER with nothing to read because her ereader had no charge (her own fault).

Have you thought about buying one of those little external phone batteries for you mom? That sounds like an easier solution...

[theducks]

+1 on having a CHARGED Booster battery handy.

California is warning of preemptive power outages during wild fire season . The talking heads on TV said it could take over a day to bring all the affected homes BACK online (once the decision is made to do this)

I suspect the Cell system won't last anywhere that long, so having extra juice only means you can have your tunes and read OFFLINE stuff.

[Katsunami]

Originally Posted by Sydney's Mom

Do I need to truck some of those books here just to make this look like a home?

No, I don't.

The less physical stuff I can own, the better. In the past, I loved having a collection of paper books, DVD's, and CD's. I actually had multiple Billy cases, full to the brim.

Until I had to move.

I did it once, and then on my second move, I thought: lol, nope.

I started to rip all of my CD's to FLAC, and short of a few boxes of classical music that aren't done yet, they've all been given away or sold. I also sold or gave away all of my DVD's, rebuying only the absolute favorites as Blu-Ray (and keeping the DVD's that are not rereleased in Blu-Ray). All of them fit in a shoe-box (excluding my LotR and Hobbit boxes). With regard to books, I've sold and given away everything, and switched completely to public domain and un-DRM-ed ebooks. The exception are these:

- I like to have reference and study books on paper because flipping is easier and it's easier/cheaper to use more than one book at once.
- I love illustrated books such as the Alan Lee version of LotR, and highly illustrated books about subjects that interest me (but those could be put under reference/study if you want.)

In short, the only paper books I have are the ones with a lot of big illustrations in them. I don't feel the need to have an "only-text"-book in paper anymore.

edit: oh, and my entire Middle-Earth collection is on paper, because most of the History isn't even available as ebooks. And they contain maps and pictures, and so forth. Thinking about it, my M-E collection is about half of the books I still own

[frahse]

Granted my old paperback Science Fiction books are safely nestled in their super Rubbermaid bins and will finally be deposed of when I die, still I have a lot of old hard bound as well as papperbound technical, hobby, etc. books in the basement.

SO, AGAIN, I am making a sweep because my wife is complaining of the dust, the mold etc.

This past trash day, I had about 70 pounds in a plastic construction trash bag to put in the giant city rolling trash can. I expect 3 to 4 more bags to be put out in the next 3 or 4 weeks. I am spreading it so as not to overload the can.

I am tossing other stuff as well.

There will still be other books downstairs as well, just in case.

When I finish that I will start on the upstairs book shelves, etc.

[Quoth]

I only find ebooks good for Novels. I prefer paper even for novels. I'd been trying to read old out of print / out of copyright novels and trying to proof read all on laptop.
I found getting the PW2 good (now have PW3, Sony PRS350 and Kobo Aura H2O) and have bought some ebooks from Amazon and Smashwords when either unavailable or much cheaper.

I object to DRM and DMCA (fortunately I'm not in USA), I think both are unethical, immoral and not a valid way to enforce copyright.

People have also been buying books since books were invented just to have them for show. I'd not waste money on special editions etc, books are for reading or else it's just organic waste.

I'd like a 13" eInk digital paper for PDF manuals/datasheets/old magazines and a 10" eink for old scanned books. Very expensive. I do use an otherwise useless 10" windows LCD tablet for PDFs. I find my current laptop poor for PDF as it's only 1920 x 1080, really even 1200 is better. My old 2002 laptop with a 15.5" 1600 x 1200 non-glare LCD is the best device I have for PDFs! The HD Video and Widescreen has resulted in poorer laptops, you have to now pay THOUSANDS to get a laptop with a better screen than the old one I have from 2002.

Large format titles, text books, illustrated books and graphic novels are still best on paper.

Paper is not going away, nor are printed books any time soon. The ereader is complementary now to printed content, not anywhere near a replacement, though I've saved maybe 5,000 sheets of laser printout by proof reading on ereader and also larger web documents (pasted into LibreOffice Writer. SaveAs DOCX and Calibre to convert to AZW and epub).

No doubt "read once" Novels are ideal for eInk 6" readers. Seems strange the attitude that the Big Five and Mills&Boon/Harlequin have to ebooks.

[Paperbackstash]

Originally Posted by FrustratedReader

People have also been buying books since books were invented just to have them for show. I'd not waste money on special editions etc, books are for reading or else it's just organic waste.

I don't find it wasteful to have unread books or collectibles, but everyone is different.

I've always been a bibliophile and lover of books, not just a reader. Heavy readers aren't always bibliophiles, and bibliophiles come in different shapes and sizes too. I prefer paperback over hardcover and like used copy looks, while others only want hardbacks or pristine conditions. I like the grungy and worn-in ambience look but of course who can resist the shiny new covers either? Ah, books. Which brings to mind the bookstores - there's a quaintness with some of the stuffy, used ones filled with overflowing shelves. To me = bliss.

I will admit I need to get rid of some in storage that I know I have no interest in and really are just taking up room, though. That still leaves plenty.

I will agree with others that they're a pain to move, though

[leebase]

Good point about here being readers and book lovers and they aren’t the same concept.

[pwalker8]

Originally Posted by leebase

Good point about here being readers and book lovers and they aren’t the same concept.

Yep. There are some paper books that I'm always going to keep, even if I have the ebook version. Some books just don't translate well to ebooks (picture books and books of maps) and some books are collector items for me. Some paper books are unlikely to ever be made into ebooks for various reasons.

I have ebooks for the reader side of me. That's a big reason that I buy ebook versions of books I have in paper, it's just a lot more accessible and convenient to read as an ebook, IMPO. On the other hand, I can't really imagine living somewhere that didn't have shelves of paper books in the living room where I can look at them.

[leebase]

Originally Posted by pwalker8

Yep. There are some paper books that I'm always going to keep, even if I have the ebook version. Some books just don't translate well to ebooks (picture books and books of maps) and some books are collector items for me. Some paper books are unlikely to ever be made into ebooks for various reasons.

I have ebooks for the reader side of me. That's a big reason that I buy ebook versions of books I have in paper, it's just a lot more accessible and convenient to read as an ebook, IMPO. On the other hand, I can't really imagine living somewhere that didn't have shelves of paper books in the living room where I can look at them.

I'm not much of a biblio file with SOME exceptions. I love a nice leather, gold leafed bible. I like how it feels, how it smells. Of course, I don't actually READ a paper bible anymore

[Flaneurette]

Originally Posted by Paperbackstash

I've always been a bibliophile and lover of books, not just a reader. Heavy readers aren't always bibliophiles, and bibliophiles come in different shapes and sizes too.

yes agreed- readers and collectors are two different things. According to Librarything I have 942 dead tree books. I have purchased 853 ebooks and borrowed 309 ebooks from overdrive. I really like my home library w built in bookshelves and comfy leather chair but if I am honest with myself I vastly prefer to read ebooks these days. So I guess I have a lot of dust collectors for ambiance sake. The thing is my kids (ages 9,11, and 16) prefer paper books over ereaders once they got over the novelty of it. I think it might be somewhat a stage of life thing- for instance my grandmother was a huge reader and greatly influenced me in that regard but she got them all from the library and going into her home you would never know it was such a huge part of her identity. When I was younger I always thought that was strange and wanted all my "trophies" on my shelves, even if no one but me saw them. Now I get it- less clutter makes life easier and I don't care what anyone else thinks anymore. Anyway, sorry to ramble but this issue sort of exemplifies the ongoing debate about ebooks vs print books and their place in my life and I keep getting the feeling that the major publishing houses are actively trying to marginalize ebooks.....anyone else feel this way?

[frahse]

For trash collection tomorrow, I estimate 200 pounds (4 large construction plastic bags) of paper books mostly school and work technical stuff with a few odds and ends tossed in.

More to go and really haven't come upstairs yet, though I got some Shaum's outline series books/manuals that were being used to support a deck on my main computer desk which had a giant Trinitron CRT monitor on it until this past year. Now it has a very light LCD monitor on it.