I don't have Kindle, so I certainly still feel more comfortable with printed books. But increasingly, the arguments people make why they are superior seem weak. They have a nice romantic feel. They look nice. It's what your culture has always been. I get it. With me, it's maps over GPS, and memorising phone numbers rather than having them stored. You feel you are fighting some important rearguard cultural action, so that our children and grandchildren will...will...
Will know how to shoe a horse. Will know how to wind a grandfather clock and read Roman Numerals. Will know how to get their clothes really clean by beating them against a rock.
As the Scouts say, "Be Prepared". Power outages are infrequent--but my town was without for a week after a big storm. Earthquakes, too, but we've had the recent Japanese example. You never know.
ReplyDeleteDo you know the phrase "Fat, Dumb, and Happy?", boy and girls? You should.
I wonder what Kindle et al are going to do to second-hand book shops. I haven't heard that the purchaser has the right to resell the ebook. I acquired a huge fraction of my library used, and couldn't have afforded nearly so many books otherwise.
ReplyDeleteOur family has so many thousands of books in both houses that it's hard finding space for any more. So we love things like Kindles and iPads as they make it possible for us to acquire more books without clutter...Also, one can conceal one's extravagance buying more books from one's spouse (just don't let them read the updated contents list)...tho an awful lot of the books I want aren't available as e-books yet. Non-fiction is tough, still.
ReplyDeleteYou can get vast quantities of classics for free as ebooks. And many libraries (mine at least) will let you have current ebooks for free thru various services. What I mostly like is that i can carry around hundreds of books at once in one light book sized folder. Also, it's a Godsend if you are doing research and writing. You can bring hundreds of articles downloaded from JStor (if our library subscribes) and books, again without lugging a hundred pounds of books.
The bad part of ereaders is that they are expensive and susceptible to damage (I haven't had any disasters yet, but I worry). ALso, you wouldn't lend one as it contains your entire current library. Perhaps you don't want to lend everything you are reading to a casual acquaintance from Bible Study to whom you would otherwise lend/give your dogeared old copy of Bonhoeffer's "Cost of Discipleship".
Part of the pleasure of reading books is giving them away to friends. I remember it as part of the mating ritual at my college. We would go a coffee shop and bookstore, and gather up armfulls of books for each other. Or one would pick out favorite books from one's bookshelf to give to a new love. A bit like the now quaint and outdated custom of making a tape recording of one's favorite songs for someone cute....
It was all the free classics available that got me to download the Kindle for PC software. I want a Kindle now because I can't take my PC to the front porch.
ReplyDeleteI think it will be easier for me to hold also. Arthritis has made reading heavy books difficult for years now. I don't know if it's going to better or worse than a book with the tremors.
As Sam points out, power outages could be a problem, but what concerns me more is how permanent digital anything is -- 100 year old books and photos can still be viewed, but will there be viewers a 100 years from now that can access our current e files? Can our e files be preserved that long?
I also wonder if teaching children to read will become more difficult and less of a pleasure.
One of the ways I'm guaranteed to get my 4 year old granddaughter to sit in my lap for more than 10 seconds is to ask her if she wants to read a book with me.
Donna, she might like "The First Dog" by Jan Brett w such gorgeous illustrations. In our family we all still say "up popped Paleo Wolf, looking for leftovers!" because we read it over and over and over again...E books can't compete w paper when the pictures are beautiful. (when reading to several fidgety kids with people looking at the nook from different angles).
ReplyDeleteThanks Retriever! I just ordered the book. I was looking for something special for their visit next weekend.
ReplyDeleteKindle for the PC and me...
ReplyDeleteI got the free app for PC's last November, and haven't looked back. Haven't bought a single paper book since then, either. No, it's not quite like “the book experience,” but it's close enough for me.
Due to many “transformational life changes,” virtually all the books I had as a child have vanished-- I found them, for free, on the web,and occasionally purchase new ones I am interested in.
Since they exist in a file folder they are saved via routine backups.
Ebooks probably aren't for everyone, but love mine.
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There's a free app for PCs? If it worked for Macs, and I didn't have too much trouble with my rural satellite daily download limit, I'd go e-book in a heartbeat. All I really care about in a book is (1) can I get access to it and (2) does it get words into my head. Paper, e-, audio, I don't care.
ReplyDeleteOn the other hand, I like to read in the bathtub, where I don't really want an electrical device.