do you guys read books old fashioned way (paper) or digitally (e-book)?

[JediFonger]

i've done both... i still like the paper side of things.

[crisaor]

Both, but if I have a choice, I enjoy most reading the old fashioned way. It's more fun, and comfortable. After a while of reading books in the computer, my eyes start getting sore. Typically, I read texts online for university or if I can't get a copy of a particular book in paper.

[Koa]

paper paper paper! i've only read one thing (or some other bits) from the computer but my eyes hurt after a while, then i spend too much time at the pc anyway, and anyway a book can be taken anywhere, i read often on the bus...or in my room anyway, and the computer isn't.

[emily655321]

I've only done the online thing once, and I didn't get beyond chapter 4. I don't like reading off a screen, it hurts me. And you can't curl up in the corner of a big chair with a computer, like you say, Koa. Not to mention the way books smell, feel, look...it's all part of the experience.

[verybaddmom]

i agree completely. for me, one of the best parts of reading a story is the ability to get totally lost in it, and relax and forget about my worries. i love to be able to curl up in a comfy chair, or under a tree in the park, or even the bathtub and relax and enjoy it. i cant really get that sitting at my computer.
i have used my palm pilot to do reading for school when im on the go, though. its kind of nice, because it's practical. but it is in no way the method i choose for pleasure reading though.

[baddad]

The ability to digitally produce the written word was once predicted as the gateway to obsolecense as far as paper as a medium was concerned. The future, it was predicted, would herald the computer screen as the new Messiah of literary archive. What is commomly referred to as a 'book' was deemed to be going the way of the dodo bird (now extinct). Around the same time, as science became societies new 'God', predictions that every family would have two flying cars was also very popular.
Humans have a tactile sense, are as driven to use it as birds are driven to fly. A book printed on paper can be held, sensed, weighed. Books will never be replaced by any other currently known format. When we stop killing all the trees perhaps books may be made from some more easily renewable fibre (hemp has so many..........WONDERFUL uses). The physical printed book is here to stay. Other formats can only pale in comparison on their best days!!!!

[trismegistus]

I can and do read short works on computer (e.g. essays, poetry up to epic length). This is mostly a function of convenience: they're easy to access and easy to read that way. I much prefer books and for anything longer than, say, a novella, I'll only read printed matter.

[JediFonger]

well i think i must specify even more. obviously the computer screen will give you head-aches. what i meant was those portable e-book devices. sort of like this:
http://www.gemstar-ebook.com/ebcontent/devices/default.asp

think about it... instead of carrying around thousands of pages of a book you like you carry one panel (like they do on star trek) and the LCD display on that makes sure you don't get eye strain. if more titles were available on those things i would choose that over paper but the fact is there aren't enough titles to warrant them. it's kind of a chicken+egg question. no one wants to buy those devices and therefore there aren't demand for titles. publishers aren't in a hurry to publish e-books cause there aren't enough demands. ah well. people still like books/paper.

Texas Instrument has designed a paper-thin device that you can fold and put in your pocket (like real paper). on that device you can display all types of multimedia information (including video/music, etc.). you can read books on there as well i think but it hasn't made it to the consumer-end yet... still in R&D+prototypes.

the reason i like those devices is you can store thousands of books instead of just one! for a device under 1 lbs you can have not only war+peace but the complete works of tolstoy. not only hamlet but complete works of shakespeare and both of those authors' complete works and you can store thousands of times even more!!! yeah... the future doesn't come soon enough for me =(. 2slow.

[den]

I do a lot of `reading' on computer for work. I get eye strain often even though I use reading glasses that are supposedly glare and strain-free :eek:

So, when it comes to reading for fun to get my mind off of work etc. , I much prefer to get cosy on the couch or in bed with a real book, it's just not the same reading print-out from the `net and I don't have a lap-top.

[den]

However these are very cool! I want one...





well i think i must specify even more. obviously the computer screen will give you head-aches. what i meant was those portable e-book devices. sort of like this:
http://www.gemstar-ebook.com/ebcontent/devices/default.asp

[baddad]

Am I alone in finding books made of paper being referred to as "old fashioned" somewhat misleading? Granted, technology has come a long way, introduced some fascinating and ultimately useful new-age 'mousetraps', but books printed on paper are not old fashioned, nor the technology past prime. Nothing 'modern' has been invented to replace the 'book', the better mousetrap not invented. And like so many other rituals, a book performs more duties, has more uses than merely a rest stop for words. Who among us hasn't displayed their literary treasures on shelves as comforting wraps in a room, shared the printed word knowing the book may not return to the master, and not minding.
Lend/give your laptop to an aquaintance, a stranger so that they too may see, accept the fact it may not be returned, ever, and accept it's loss as easily as that of a paperback misplaced...

[JediFonger]

how about no more lending? but simply emailing?

[subterranean]

I love paper version, i love putting book marks between pages, i love putting that yellow piece of "post it" paper between pages and i love putting some drawings between pages, which are expressions of my thoughts after i read some interesting lines.

SO PAPER RULES!!

[baddad]

Si Jedifonger, muy bein, emailing. But the consensus (see poll results above) is one of discomfort pertaining to the reading of books on a monitor/screen. A book should never give discomfort, or at least a discomfort stirred by words should be limited to emotion me thinks....

[JediFonger]

well by screen/display there are a number of disparaging technologies now which make that head-ache less. a LCD display will give you less problems than CRT for reading.

[atreides]

I read that a good reader reads 100 words a minute less on a computer screen then on paper. Its to do with the glare of the moniter i think, probably why it hurts your eyes. I read on both, if im online im generally readings things, news, forums, irc, etc. But not extended reading like books. I prefer reading books on paper.

[emily655321]

The glare of a computer screen isn't the main thing. It's the tangible sensation of handling a book. I like my books. I like carrying around a honking big book, especially hardcover with thick, stiff pages. I like being in rooms stuffed to the gills with stacks of musty old books. They're real to me; not just a means for relaying the information inside.

Imagine you lived your life without seeing or touching or hearing another living human being, but you had tons of friends online. It's the same people, you're hearing their thoughts and telling them yours, and they keep you company. You'd go insane and kill yourself. People do. Or what about the prediction that human beings would one day get all their nutrition from pills? Or those e-pets and tomagotchi things on a keychain. Just like a real animal, right? I don't know, books are real to me in the same way. Maybe if I had to go on a trip and pack light, and I had a lot of books to read for different classes, an ebook thing would be a convenient temporary solution. But I'd hate it.

[JediFonger]

given the right technology (that hasn't come along yet) i would chose a digital format over paper format. just the simplicity of instant access.

[emily655321]

I'd totally go for it if it was a reference book. Like a math or science book for school. That would be awesome, because carrying textbooks is seventh-circle-of-hell bad. God knows I've never bonded with a textbook. Oh my god, if the teacher said, "pull up page 357 of your Chemistry book, kids."
"Click."
Woohoo! Now that's useful technology.
My way of enjoying an e-book for a novel would be carrying around my beautiful, luscious gazillion-pound copy of the Karamazovs, and pulling the e-book out for looking up words, instead of also carrying a dictionary, or writing them down and having to check later. Ooh, I wonder if they would sell just the appendices of books, so you don't have to pay for the whole book, but wouldn't have to keep flipping to the back for footnotes? *drools like Homer Simpson* mmmm....electronic foootnooootes.....

[subterranean]

True Emily :)

and though i hate it so much that my room become so narrow coz of my bookshelves, i'd feel a deep lost if i ahve to throw them away for the sake of instant and practical access of reading good stuffs.

[MeDuSa]

i dont read digitly

i dont feel comfortable :rolleyes:

[JediFonger]

*digitally =).

[den]

Oh! Are you a teacher?


*digitally =).

[Stanislaw]

paper is eisier on the eyes, and the temptation to go msn is not as bad. Also if you are out in the wild in an out house with no toilet paper, a book may be a little more usefull then a palm pilot, :smash: , JK. I would not do that to good literature, maybe mein kamph but not something usefull.

[Raven]

I'm an old-fashioned kinda girl - I can't bear to read a screen unless its fanfiction and I'm forced to.

[Koa]

*digitally =).


I had read 'dignity'... :eek:

[silvertabby]

I know my son (who is 10) prefers to read books on the internet, but i cant seem to concentrate for long this way. If its just reading for pleasure then i suppose its ok to read on the computer, but if you are reading academically, working towards writing criticism of that particular piece of literature, then i'm sure you need to have the book in your hands.

[ravana]

Paper version! Books are for me like hobby. I like to have a copy of my favorites. I used to sit and just enjoy watching them. Now I have no time for that.

[Bandini]

C'mon! You can't read a novel on a screen! You've got to be 'portable', surely to God?

[mono]

I usually prefer reading the 'old-fashioned' way on paper. Especially that I do not own a portable laptop, and I get much of my reading done while riding public transit (being a poor college student), I much prefer anything but e-books/e-texts. I have, however, found Internet e-texts very helpful for research, while wondering of other readers' opinions, summaries, and reviews; books and magazines provide only so much, not including the original writing, of course. :)

[nadinka]

hehe.. 23 to 0! and who had any doubts? Wanted to add my voice to everyone's, but the poll is closed for some reason...

[subterranean]

One more thing, I'm using lenses so I can't glare PC screen too long...;)

[faith]

Who could stand reading a whole book from the screen????? Never in a million yers!

[Helga]

I just finished reading a play on the computer, but besides that, only books

[Erna]

I'm also 'old-fashioned' ;) and prefer reading on paper. I can't concentrate for a long time while reading on a screen and my eyes don't like it. I have some e-book readers on my computer, because I thought it would be handsome, especialle while I'm interested in classics, which can be found for free on the internet. But I never use them, because reading behind my computer isn't as much fun as a good book at the couch.

There are some pro's for a palmtop to take books with you easily, but I think it just doesn't feel like a book. It's some kind of weird, only reading from a palmtop. Maybe that's the point, it doesn't give you the feeling of reading a book.

[EAP]

Prefer paper though I don't have a problem with reading online either.

[Rachy]

It's got to be from a book! I like to take it everywhere with me because I literally read everywhere! Plus it's more personal in a book then on the computer. :S i don't know how that works but you know!!

[Lector]

When I type papers I do it on a computer, when I check e-mail or chat online it is with a computer, I play games on my computer; but a book... A book is something completely other, it takes you where no other medium can. I guess I can't fully explain, you all seem to be saying part of what I am thinking, that a bool is textile and thus more comfortable; that you can take a book palces computers (and those little e-books) should never go; you can doodle and take notes in the margines. Everything about books is apealing to me: the way the read, the way they age, the way each and every book has it's own unique feel... I don't know what else to say except that if books go the way of the dodo, there had better be something amazing to come and take thier place.

[Fango]

My opinion is the same as everybody on this matter. What's good about reading from a screen, though, is my Babylon translator. No need to open that big ol' Oxford everytime a word impedes you. But still, I never read books through a screen (from obvious and already-stated reasons).

[Zooey]

While my computer does many things for me (message boards and reviews, particularly), one thing it does not do is provide me serious literature or a means for creative writing. I can't write either poetry or fiction on a computer- it has to come out of my hand through a writing utensil and onto a paper.

It just... doesn't feel creative otherwise.

[strategos]

I generally do a lot of my reading on the computer screen and I quite frankly find the 'search' feature to be very convenient, especially when reading books of multi-layered levels of complexity where a handful of characters are thrown into the fray.

Still, there is unquestionably a marked difference between reading on a screen versus paper and being a computer science major, I'm currently writing a program to try and simulate the 'look and feel' of reading a physical book via rendering a e-book in a three-dimensional OpenGL environment.

[dogar sahab]

Hey,u all people commment whether u get more engrossed in reading a paper-book or compact book with celluloid papers????
As far as I am concerned,I hate ebooks..But due to the cost-ineffectiveness I generally go for an E-BOOK!!!!
So what u people prefer???

[Joyeuse]

I get more engrossed reading a paper-book because I can take it with me anywhere and don't get as distracted as I do when I have bright lights shining in my face. That said, I actually love e-books because of their easy accessibility (apologies for stating the obvious). The combination of Wikisource and Project Gutenberg have spoiled me and I find many forays into libraries and book stores saddening when I am looking for a very specific book. Online I have access to not just to Edgar Allen Poe and William Shakespeare; I can also find Edgar Rice Burroughs and H. Rider Haggard, among scores of others. The shear power is ecstacy, if not a bit daunting. That said, stumbling through the bookshelves at random provides a lot of enjoyment when I am not looking for anything in particular. Also, it helps the e-book movement's case with me that i like older books. Those who like more modern books would obviously like physical books more on account of copyright laws (unless they have the drool-inspiring Kindle).

[livelaughlove]

I prefer paper books because I can take them with me everywhere. I spend so much time on the computer already with school (and play), that I don't need another excuse (books) to do so...

[JBI]

I go to my library - books are essentially free. I only buy books I want to own, and reread, not books I want to read.

[DaveB]

If I could afford a Kindle (Amazon's reader) I'd read digitally in a heartbeat. Unfortunately, I'm an impoverished writer. I can't read for very long from a computer display. I use an iMac and the resolution/clarity is pretty good. Maybe the aspect ratio is wrong for serious reading.

I am fine with paper, but the Kindle is a pretty amazing approach.

Oh well, maybe they'll drop the price someday.

[RG57]

I've tried the digital way, prefer the old way. I find that I tire easir, perhaps it looking at a bright screen. also with books you can them everywhere and put them with a marker no problem. Computers as great as they are just do not have the same flexibility as a book when it comes to reading literature.

[hellsapoppin]

With my p*ss poor eyesight, it is very difficult to read online. Therefore, I hold the book in front of my face and have a much easier time of reading it that way.

Besides, having a book in such proximity helps to hide my ugly face from other passengers when I'm commuting to work!

:)

[andave_ya]

PAPER PURIST ALERT!!!

I solemnly swear that I will never ever read a full-length work ONLINE. That's just wrong.

[NickAdams]

Paper, paper, paper. If paper is the medium the author intended, then it is how it must be read. The position of the words on paper is important to some works. Transferring a concrete poem from paper to palm is taking the piss out of the whole thing. Someday an author will come along and explore the potential of words on screen in relation to paper and then digital will have a voice. Until then: the medium is the message and the medium is paper, paper, paper.

[islandclimber]

I have read a couple books online.. but it hurts my eyes, they go all fuzzy and start watering after an hour or so..

and books are just so great, I love the feel, I love the act of turning pages.. paper is the only way to read..

[Joreads]

With my p*ss poor eyesight, it is very difficult to read online. Therefore, I hold the book in front of my face and have a much easier time of reading it that way.


:)

I have the same problem with my eyes so books are better for me as well. I have to admitt I like the feel of a book which you miss if you read online or with an ereader

[Tallon]

i occasionally read books on my pc, it's alot easier on microsoft reader than just on notepad.

[Kevets]

I had read 'dignity'... :eek:

no diggity

I have a friend with a Kindle and it is quite attractive. I'd need to spend at least a few nights with it to see how tolerable it is. There are a lot of pluses, but I too love the physicality of books, their smell, feel, heft, good paper, good typography, and good insulation in my old house!

[Kafka's Crow]

I have a friend with a Kindle and it is quite attractive. I'd need to spend at least a few nights with it to see how tolerable it is. There are a lot of pluses, but I too love the physicality of books, their smell, feel, heft, good paper, good typography, and good insulation in my old house!

So I am the only one who reads ebooks on a digital reader? Crucify me but I still buy paper books, collect them, love them and teach my children to collect and love them. No, I don't have a Kindle or 'Kindie' (as fan boys call it) , I use an Iliad Reader:

http://www.iliadreader.co.uk/products.htm?gclid=COSzhJDN-pYCFRyS1QodkTfbXg

[Geheris]

I am very sorry, but since it is already hard enough to discipline oneself to sit down and read, and to make the effort not to get distracted, how could one possible concentrate properly sitting in front of the computer? It just doesn't make sense.

Also, reading is already hard enough on the eyes, why add glare and radiation to the mix of reading?

Besides, reading is one of the few respites I get from the computer, and going back to the computer to read would ultimately defeat part of the purpose of reading.

[crystalmoonshin]

I prefer to read the old fashioned way. I love the smell of books, be they old or new. I love the yellowed pages of a book, something which I can't see with an e-book. Plus, my eyes won't be strained that much when reading books on paper.

[Gretchen]

Paper! I can't read books on the Internet, after a while I lose my concentration...

[Genevieve428]

I have read books online but I love going to a bookstore and buying a book. It is also kind of hard for me to curl up in my favorite chair with my laptop.

[Emil Miller]

It's not surprising that the majority prefer paper, because that is what we have grown up with and paper books are wonderfully tactile but a couple of days ago I saw, for the first time, someone quite young reading an E-book on the underground. Future generations won't want to be bothered with paper books when they can slip an E-book into their pockets so easily. At the current rate of technological development, it is likely that in a few years it may be possble for the E-book format to hold hundreds or even thousands of books. That one individual I saw with an E-book is the thin end of a very large wedge.

[cipherdecoy]

E-books piss me off. Not only do they hurt my eyes, the slightest scroll of the mouse could screw up the pages.