Reasons for reading electronic books

[kennyc]

Originally Posted by DiapDealer

Because eating them hasn't quite played out the way I expected.

At least you don't put on weight (see your avatar) from eating them.

[Apache]

Most of these are reasons I like ebooks.
Apache

[luqmaninbmore]

I can make the fonts bigger or smaller as I desire.
If I lose my reader, I haven't lost my library.
Easier to use one-handed (for reading on the go!).

[NickyWithNook]

I read a lot, and then I have a ton of books to do something with. I pass some on, I donate some to the library, but it seems to be a constant clutter issue for me. I've gotten rid of a lot of books I would have held onto if not for clutter issues. So this gives me a way to keep books without them taking up physical space.

[Sydney's Mom]

The fact that my books are always with me. I whip my K out at the drop of a hat.

[carld]

For me personally I would add

6). Free books that lead me to authors I might never have tried.
7). Adjustable font size -- this is HUGE for me.

[Bricorn]

Being able to get a whole series at once.

[xg4bx]

exposure to many authors whose work doesn't fit the philosophy of "milk a popular genre dry then ditch it" that the mainstream publishing houses have and thusly ends up self-published or put out by the small press.

[RDaneel54]

Because they have widened my world. I never would have been able to afford all the books I now have and have read on my devices over the last 3 1/2 years.

Being a long time gadget head and bibliophile, it was inevitable that my two loves would converge.

[FizzyWater]

People pretty much already listed all my points.

I could say I don't have to dust them! They don't dry out because I put them too close to a heat source or mold in high-humidity. (Of course, there's always the risk of hard drive failure!) They used to be cheaper, but Agency Pricing killed that for me [I don't buy hardbacks].

I like that if I start a new book at lunchtime (at work) and don't like it, I can immediately start a new one.

I like that I don't have to get grief from the guys I work with if I read a romance novel with a cheezy cover on it. Or funny looks if I read some odd non-fiction book (I started reading about how Dailyligh Savings Time came to be one day at work and jeez, you'd think I was reading in Latin or something).

[Spacejock]

Two reasons: Space and dust

[xg4bx]

it seems like i both read more and read more quickly since i got my kindle. i still love hardcopies but sometimes they seem like a chore to read. now i absolutely devour books and all i want to do is read.

[amward]

All of the above.

[kennyc]

Originally Posted by Spacejock

Two reasons: Space and dust

but what about all those ELECTRONS!

[SmokeAndMirrors]

Originally Posted by xg4bx

it seems like i both read more and read more quickly since i got my kindle. i still love hardcopies but sometimes they seem like a chore to read. now i absolutely devour books and all i want to do is read.

This.

My reading rate has been gradually declining over my lifetime, beginning at "insanely voracious" and ending at "do articles count?" during the last couple years. I will say that most of that dive took place over the last couple years when I started traveling.

I'm one of those people who hates to get rid of my books. I want to keep them until they fall apart... and maybe longer. But I lived in a suitcase the size of my torso. It's hard to justify room for books.

So what I wound up with was 3 or 4 books I'd read a million times, and eventually novels became a rarity and I just resorted to articles and short stories online, but the screen issue was always a limitation. After about an hour, sometimes less, my eyes would suddenly feel like someone just took a picture with the flash on directly in my face.

This seems so odd to say, but since getting an ereader it seems to be true - yes, paper books were annoying for me to read. It's the wrong "form factor" for me (man, that sounds so bizarre!!). I love the way they smell, the feel of them, etc. But as I got older and busier, I hated that the pages always seemed to be unruly, they're hard to hold one-handed if you're a wee gal as I am, and they take up so much space - space I just don't have.

I'm back to my "insanely voracious" reading levels, circa 5th grade, since getting an ereader. At first I was a little worried about it just being a "geek toy honeymoon," but if anything my reading rate seems to be going up, not coming down.

There's a part of me that will always love the printed word, even if we could never seem to agree with each other completely. I stood and watched the paper I work for be run off the press just a couple weeks ago. It was absolutely awe-inspiring. And I thought to myself, this may not exist by the time I'm 40. Pay attention now - because you may never get to see this again. The sadness I felt as I thought that was overwhelming.

I'm a writer. I'm always going to love everything about the history of my language and my art. But at the same time, I'm also going to love everything that improves upon it and makes it more accessible.

Ereaders have removed a roadblock between me and reading the way I want to read. Reading has suddenly become more compatible with the rest of my life, with my physicality, and with my habits. It feels like a sort of betrayal to even say such a thing, but it is better than dead-tree books to me.