[Lancaster Online]

[salty]

Nice piece, full of thought provoking questions.

I'll stick with books, thanks. Keep in mind the "1984" scenario, where old news stories etc. were rewritten and the old original went "down the memory hole". My print books will always say the exact same thing they said before.

How long till book burnings? Libraries are actively selling older books right now. Discarding books that haven't been checked out in awhile. If everyone has a Kindle, what would be the point of having a library? I have very few books over a hundred years old. In another hundred I'd expect them to be gone as well.

[notveryhow]

Nice piece, full of thought provoking questions.

I'll stick with books, thanks. Keep in mind the "1984" scenario, where old news stories etc. were rewritten and the old original went "down the memory hole". My print books will always say the exact same thing they said before.

Interesting thought, Salty. I had never considered how, if everyone had their books in an electronic format, one push of a button could change the content of everyone's 'memory'. "We've always been at war with Eastasia", and there no longer exists a record showing this not to be true. Woof!

Print books are cheap, versatile, and hardy. I can't imagine taking a 'Kindle' to some of the places I've carried books. I read "Dune" while backpacking at Zion. I read a whole raft of Sci-fi while on a 3 day float trip down the Susquehanna in an 11 foot inflatable canoe.

So I'll stick with print. If I owned a $200 electronic reader, it would inevitably die an ignoble death being dropped in the toilet.

[ceejay]

Nice piece, full of thought provoking questions.

I'll stick with books, thanks. Keep in mind the "1984" scenario, where old news stories etc. were rewritten and the old original went "down the memory hole". My print books will always say the exact same thing they said before.

How long till book burnings? Libraries are actively selling older books right now. Discarding books that haven't been checked out in awhile. If everyone has a Kindle, what would be the point of having a library? I have very few books over a hundred years old. In another hundred I'd expect them to be gone as well.

Had a chat recently with my favorite used bookseller. I have been known to forget whatever my current read in waiting rooms (esp. dentist office where my phobia tends to make me run for door after visit!) or cafes. Greg often is called upon to replace the loss, usually $2-4 bucks. He was telling me about a friend of his who left her "reader" in a cab -- must have slipped out of her tote. $300.!

I'm sticking with books. Besides, I love everything about books, including the feel of the paper and the smell of the house of the last owner! And I love when the last owner has made a marginal note next to a passage that moves me as well. And I love being able to give books away (sometimes with a few marginal notes of my own ...) Besides, they just don't make marbled end papers like they used too!

As to book burnings? Fahrenheit 451 is a particular favorite of mine. Haven't selected "my book" quite yet, but have been pondering ...


edit to change a w to an h

This post has been edited by ceejay: 16 November 2009 - 10:52 AM

[gardenguy]

I'd include cookbooks as well. Love getting them at book sales and reading the notes in the margins from people over the years who include tips and tricks for recipes.

I've taken to writing a note in mine everytime I make something with date and how it came out....it will be nice to pass those on someday.

And.....I agree! There is nothing like the feel of a book.

[solitary]

Not real fond of these. They have so much potential, yet it'll be another five or 10 years till they reach it. Sadly, I think Apple will finally pull one out that takes off, and it'll suck worse than the current crop, but the iPhone, iPod users will suck it up like spilled beer and pony up twice as much to buy half the product.

Couple of things, my PDA phone has been used to store electronic reading material, it's compact, convenient, and as long as the text is big enough, or the area you're in is not very bright, it works pretty well. I'm gonna take it with me anyway.
I only got about 15 pages in reading on the beach (under an umbrella), before I got tired. (long night, long drive, little sleep, worked the morning prior to leaving) Put the phone away and proceeded to get a severe sun burn since the shadow of the umbrella moved. At least if I had a book, I would have probably used it to block the sun in my eyes and had spared my face the enhanced natural blush.

This post has been edited by solitary: 16 November 2009 - 12:18 PM

[Pirate Jenny]

Sadly, I think Apple will finally pull one out that takes off, and it'll suck worse than the current crop, but the iPhone, iPod users will suck it up like spilled beer and pony up twice as much to buy half the product.

Not this iPhone user/addict, thank you. I have within my reach my MacBook -- well that would be at my fingertips -- my iPhone, and a 900 page book, and never the twain (thwain?) shall meet. I don't even like to read large amounts of information on a computer screen; I prefer to print out things. I suppose one should never say "never," but I'm saying it: never.

[LicenseForMayhem]

I saw a lady using a Kindle at the beach this summer. It just seemed weird and very impractical, to my thinking, for anyone who does more at the beach than just sitting under an umbrella, reading.

There was a company based around Philly whose name escapes me right now that tried to market some kind of e-book system over ten years ago. I see how well that worked...

[Bustina di tè]

No more chopping down trees ... unless you need to mine the rare earths under that forest to make more integrated circuit chips for your e-books.

A book that has become tattered and worn beyond reading can go into your mulch pile, not so you computers and other electronic gadgets.

This post has been edited by Bustina di tè: 18 November 2009 - 01:03 PM