Ebooks vs paper

[cjsmith]

What are your thoughts on Kindle (or other electronic format) versus paper books?

I’ve got an unwieldy paper library and am starting to collect books in Kindle format. I suspect Kindle will be my preference for fiction, since I go through that quickly and it’s a lightweight way to carry a lot. Browsing is awkward in electronic format, leading me to think I’d rather have paper cookbooks, but the nondestructibility of a tablet in a case is also attractive in the kitchen.

Which kinds of books do you prefer to have in which formats?

Comments

[jenett]

I moved almost entirely to ebook after two cross-country moves. (Also, I am all for not needing to bring at least two books with me at all times. Now I have 1000 books on my phone, and as long as I have battery power, I am all set for reading material.)

Mostly what I have in print now (I'm down to under 1000 print books) is:
- Pagan books that I expect to want to pull out and/or reference with other people
- Books where the physical copy has sentimental value
- Things I can't get in ebook
- Thing where the print copy is just generally gorgeous
- Cookbooks and crafting books.

I usually travel with one or two print books in case of bathtubs and times when a phone is not doable.

[cjsmith]

Do you also find you loan your paper books to others sometimes? I could imagine doing that with reference types of materials.

[nosrednayduj]

I do loan my paper books (mostly fiction) and find it annoying that ebooks take away that ability. I guess they will also destroy the used book market. I get a lot of my books from library book sales, or abe books. Sometimes I discover an old book or series of an author and it's now out of print, so I get it used from Abe.

[cjsmith]

I agree that the ability to loan books and the used book market are significant, and I’d miss both of those quite a bit. :(

[jenett]

Theoretically, yes, but since I just spent about $100 to replace books that hadn't come back for various reasons, I am growing less inclined to do that except with really really close friends.

(Or in practice, people where I go over to their house sometimes and can remember to ask for it.)

[cjsmith]

(nod) I’ve definitely lost books this way too. Some are difficult to replace.