Oh people who are all nobby about books

[LordPalmerston]

"Oh I love a real book". "I can see how much ice got left". Oh fgs ebooks are way better one handed reading. Easy storage. Easy to buy and HUGE FONT option for when you've forgotten your glasses or are drunk

Why do people go into mini orgasm about paper ?

what you do miss out on is the design

So you do only read beautifully inscribed books with gold illumination and tooled leather bindings... I'm impressed.

My point being that I bet people were just as snobby at every other evolutionary point along the time line of the book.

Neither is inherently better than the other.

Soup

That is an odd thing to say-a bit daft even. Look at any bookshop and you will see absolute beauty, drama in book jacket design, even the choice of font. Simon Garfields 'Just My Type' is a great book for font geeks like me.

A book design doesn't have to have tooling, leather and illumination to be wonderful.

it's just a pointless argument, you either like to read books or you like to read books

whats the point in arguing about it

It's only a debate. Not an argument. I have learned some useful tips in how to store the books I do have across different electronic formats from this thread.

The cover is still on a Kindle book. It;s still there. It is different to a paperback book in the same was as a paperback book is different to an illuminated book with beautiful calligraphy and a tooled leather cover.
Times New Roman v beautifully crafted letters.

You have missed the point. A paperback book is different to a manuscript and would have been considered an abomination by snobs. Exactly the same as an ebook. Being snobby about one being superior to the other is pointless.

Ok, then.

In Summary:

eBooks and 'physical' books are Not The Same, but there is a place for both and they fulfil differing needs at different times.

Is that fairenuff??

I am not being snobby Soup and I am not interested in engaging in a debate about snobbery. i am interested in book design also; not just the words.

I am afraid you are truly missing my point.

I own both formats. I use my Kindle for certain types of books. I buy other books for their design and because I will re read, loan and enjoy owning them. You talk of paperback books as though you find them inferior- A paperback book can have great design too you know- I am not a hardback snob.

BTW many books don't use Times New Roman. If you look at the end pages you will normally see an explanation of the font used, its history and why it was chosen. For people who love book design as well as the reading, this is important. I understand that there are many readers who simply don't bother as much as others about the design of a book, the font, the choice of paper, end paper design, the way the pages are cut. I do. I also like the fact that my buying books keeps these people in work.

An indistinct print of a book jacket on a Kindle is not the same as the real thing to somebody who loves book design and I cannot understand how you could ever compare the two. It is like saying a photograph of a painting is as good as the real thing .

I never called ebooks an abomination and neither did i infer it. You are the only one using that term .

I am not one of the people who gets rid of my books in favour of a new format either. Good job Hockney isn't chucking out his art supplies for his ipad!

i agree i like a bit of font action

you need to read the font book by whatsis face

Lord

I love Simon Garfields book.

As a writer, my biggest dislike of ebooks are the way they mess with the layout.

I think somehting is definitely lost with the layout.

That said, my sales of ebooks waaaaaayyyyy outstrip my paperback sales so I guess I'm not complaining .

it gets a bit dull in the middle iirc but it was good

I have noticed that Word.

Odd three line paragraphs. How could you get the full impact of books where the layout forms part of the story itself?

I am thinking of Joyce Carol Oates 'My Sister, My Love' as an example and there is another female author who plays with font, arrangement and perspective. It doesn't work on ebook.

Jennifer Egan's 'A visit From The Goon Squad' -Some of the chapters are in the format of slide shows and power points and the way it has been downloaded means you cannot enlarge them on Kindle. They are perfectly visible in book form. the book doesn't work well on ereader.

It's very difficly mignon

One of my books has an entire narrative strand in the form of legal documentation. It was very important that these documents looked authentic. Very hard to achieve on an ereader (particlularly if the reader enlarged the font etc).

Word

I like books like that. Would be interested to read it so if you don't mind outing yourself I'll have a look (PM?)

i read it on e reader. I can enlarge on mine. I dont remember needing to though

But isn't this because ereaders are relatively new still?

When the first books were printed (as opposed to handwritten), the printers initially tried to make them look as much like manuscripts as possible - they didn't innovate, and they couldn't do it very well because to be honest, printing doesn't suit making things look handwritten.

Then as the technology became more established, they stopped trying to do bad imitations and developed their own set of visual conventions to play with. And that's where we get modern print conventions from.

I think the same will happen with ereaders in the end.

Yes.
Some Young Adult books I have read have notes or pages from diaries that are tricky to read and don't seem to expand very well. I struggled with the pictures in The Book Thief. But they'll sort that kind of thing out sooner or later.

I'm sure they will. If they want to attract young children to the format then they'll have to.

I am wondering how Mick Inkpen's 'Big Blue Balloon' will work though

mignon I hope you won't be offended, but I never out myself on MN.

I like to be able to chat about all sorts of things here (including the personal and the offensive ) and I feel more comfortable doing that if I have anonimity.

No of course I am not offended. No problem .

'Calm Down Boris' is never really going to work either.

B.S.Johnson's 'The Unfortunates' would be good if they could find a way to randomise the chapter order each time you opened it.

LRD yes the technology is in its infancy, and I am certain all this will be sort-out-able in due course.

Certainly the big houses are now (finally) taking the ebook seriously.

HarperColins now have an MD who isn't aeven an editor, but a techno.

That's interesting, I didn't know that.