Actually Bought A Book

[BadBilly]

Originally Posted by MGlitch

I really don’t understand how this is a confusing concept. I might not use a resource but I can still be glad it is there for those who do, and in case the time comes when I will use it.

Imagine thinking the only things that should exist are things which you alone use on a regular basis.

I agree. I live downtown and I love the resources that are nearby, from small shops, a giant mall, restaurants, medical offices, banks, cinemas, libraries, museums, bookstores and so on. I don't go to many of them, for various reasons, but one reason I like living here is the potential to be at such places with no more than a twenty-minute walk.

I also feel the same way about nature spots. There are plenty I'll never go to. Some for logistical reasons and some because I don't want to be part of a parade of tourists degrading the spot. But I'm glad to know such places exist.

I'm also happy people write books I have no interest in reading. They seem to make other people happy.

[mdp]

It seems in fact many are unaware of the full value of freedom.

And some researchers increasingly identify freedom as a key regulative factor in the rise of intelligence - the drive towards freedom as the direction towards intelligence building. Not really a secondary match. Nonetheless...

[mdp]

Originally Posted by leebase

And, fwiw, unless you pay cash....and forgo your bookstore's "rewards card"....you are indeed being tracked...even with real books in a real book store.

I would like to confirm that (of course and fortunately) there are shops which, as it always has been, do not keep track of your purchases. You could even buy with electronic payment, if that's your preference - it would just result that you spent 123Ʉ there at that time, nothing else. Basic common sense, normal human interaction. No behaviour for which already one of those brides we mentioned, if untainted by current trends, would immediately call you a "weirdo" and a "creep".

I do not get "reward cards", I get normal discounts.

EDIT: by the way: I believe that an important reason why you do not visit physical bookstores much anymore, is that you may not live near a breathtaking one...

[leebase]

Originally Posted by mdp

I

I do not get "reward cards", I get normal discounts.

EDIT: by the way: I believe that an important reason why you do not visit physical bookstores much anymore, is that you may not live near a breathtaking one...

Nope. I just don’t read physical books anymore and don’t need to go to a bookstore to buy ebooks. We have a large Barnes and Noble and a very nice mom and pop book store in our town.

[binaryhermit]

Actually, y'know, you sort of could go to a b&m store and buy ebooks, the grocery store where I work sells Amazon gift cards and iTunes gift cards, which I believe can be used on ebooks?, and at least some Walmart* stores were doing a silly thing where you could buy a gift card thing that could be redeemed for a specific ebook at the kobo store.

That said, that is somewhat silly

[ZodWallop]

Originally Posted by binaryhermit

...some Walmart* stores were doing a silly thing where you could buy a gift card thing that could be redeemed for a specific ebook at the kobo store.

That said, that is somewhat silly

Silly is a nicer word than stupid, I guess.

[leebase]

I must add "far better present" to "attributes that physical books have that are better than ebooks".

I bought the books as gifts and had them wrapped. Much more satisfying to hand to the birthday boy than a gift card. In addition to being tangible, the books spoke of "I thought about you and what you might like".

Of course....I'd probably rather receive an Amazon gift card I could use to buy the book -I- wanted

[mdp]

Originally Posted by leebase

Nope. I just don’t read physical books anymore and don’t need to go to a bookstore to buy ebooks. We have a large Barnes and Noble and a very nice mom and pop book store in our town.

I simply meant, on purely logical reasoning, that those places must not have enough attractiveness for you to give you a massive drive to visit them more often. (Even if you read 99.9% on tablets et similia.)

I implied that it could probably change (it should, logically) if the place had you miss it.

I wrote that to express in the background that I know places (yes, I mean a bookstore) without which life would not be worth living - places which I visit for satisfaction, not just for commerce.

...Of course, that «if the place had you miss it» is a dangerous area. What I meant is: professionalism, abundance of the collection, proper organization of it, appropriateness of the environment etc. Dangerous area, as in the current times of crumbling foundations of civilization very often the intrusion of dumb marketing introduces changes that attract """casual""" buyers and spoil it for the genuine user or enthusiast ("Will not you eat my food? I dumped a truckload of appetizers on it!" - "Will you not come to my restaurant? I started playing loud club music in it!" - "Will not you buy my car? I put the Internet in it!" - "Will not you buy my item? I placed flashing LEDs on it!" - "Why are you running hastily towards the horizon?"). I am not writing «attractive» meaning the cheap way.

[JSWolf]

Originally Posted by BadBilly

The last real book I bought was a copy of a friend's novel. Very proud of her for getting it finished and getting a publisher. Otherwise, e-books whenever possible. Old eyes prefer the flexibility, old bones, the reduction in heft.

eBooks are real books.

[issybird]

Originally Posted by JSWolf

eBooks are real books.

Give it a rest. Real is the opposite of fake but it's also the opposite of virtual as you well know, a useful and entirely understandable word especially in our particular context.

[mdp]

eBooks

Actually, a "book" is whatever can perform the function of tree bark (specifically referenced in the word is the beech, fagus) - implying, writing on it.
This is very interesting, because since 'book' indicates the medium, not the content, and to refer to the latter through such word is a metonymy, it follows that 'eBook' indicates the tablet, the display, not the product of a writer. "Buying an eBook" literally means, buying the hardware.
Which raises the question of what should be, in the indoeuropean tradition, the name of the content, of the text. In this context heavily populated by terms that mean the technical, practical side ("holding a stick" for gramma, graphys etc.), the term 'text' is magic: clearly indicating the textile art (again technical), it was taken as the metaphor of "waving of ideas".
Today, the naming for electronic content can be found in the names picked for the file formats: a PDF is an instance of "portable document", an EPUB of an "electronic publication", and many formats are "text", "text documents".

Also: one cone of terms that sticks out of the technical side to mean the content, alongside 'text', as I could find after a quick search, is that of the "epistle": it means something that is "put in place" - which can be both the stele (well-in-place column) and the "established" message passed.

[leebase]

There is nothing wrong with my local book stores. I think they are quite nice. But for me, a book store has always been about buying books. I don't go there for anything else. And since I don't read "real books" anymore....I rarely go to the book store.

eBooks are a disruptive force for book stores.

[gmw]

Bookshops - the really good ones - are a source of wonder to me, something that started in childhood and that I've never outgrown. Intellectually I know they are simply a store in which you can buy books, but for me the best carry an atmosphere, an air of mystery, all their own and so each visit becomes an adventure, an exploration in which treasures may be uncovered. Fanciful, I know, but it's a fancy I'm content to indulge. Besides, such fancies about bookshops and libraries add verisimilitude to Pratchett's stories of L-Space and other such fantasies, which makes it all the more worthwhile.

[JSWolf]

Originally Posted by issybird

Give it a rest. Real is the opposite of fake but it's also the opposite of virtual as you well know, a useful and entirely understandable word especially in our particular context.

Why is it others are allowed to say a pBook is a real book and yet I'm not allowed to as an eBook is a read book?

This entire thread was started on the premise the pBooks are real meaning that eBooks are not real.

[leebase]

No...this entire thread was in the premise of.....it’s been a a long time since I went and bought a book at a book store. It was ZERO PERCENT about whether paper books were more real than ebooks.

I like ebooks so much...prefer them over paper books so much....that it had been years since I had stepped into a book store. THUS the post.