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 ?

[mignonnette]

Funnily enough my DH is dyslexic and finds the Kindle easier to concentrate upon. Am interested to know if anybody can explain this?

[wonderingonenamechnge]

I much prefer paper. I have a lot of very old books, inscribed with names and messages and notes etc. Some were my Gran's from her childhood, she died in 1963 at age 30. I can smell them and get an idea of what she smelled like, and recently found a old bookmark, presumably hers, tucked into one. You can't that with a kindle.

[LordPalmerston]

I've just taken the serifs off my kindle font. Looks way nicer

[LRDtheFeministDragon]

'I don't think owning books makes you clever.'

Did I miss the bit where someone said it did?

Btw, the reason taking the serifs off is helpful is because serifs are not especially conducive to quick reading.

[LRDtheFeministDragon]

'It's facile to compare books to records or cassettes, books in one form or another have been around for millennia and have been available to the masses since the 15th century.'

Forgive me, but I disagree.

'Books in one form or another' is a dodgy phrase. A kindle is a book 'in one form'. There is, arguably, just as much difference between a kindle and a modern printed book as there is between a manuscript and a modern printed book, or between a manuscript and a scroll.

So in that sense, no, books really haven't been around for millenia.

And they certainly weren't available 'to the masses' from the fifteenth century.

[PacificDogwood]

Well, reading makes you clever, so again content is more important than medium .

I did not know I could switch the serifs off?
I have a Gen1 Kindle so may be too ancient to do it?

[LordPalmerston]

Well better maybe.
"I'm snobby about owning proper paper books and I'm actually quite low brow. I can't stand houses where there are no books on display (and don't even get me started on shelves full of DVDs in living rooms)."

[hugoagogo]

They keep me in a job for the next year This!

[LRDtheFeministDragon]

mignon - that's interesting. I'm dyslexic too, and can't cope with kindles at all!

Certainly we know dyslexics often have slightly different visual responses from the norm, so that may be it. One thing that's know to be difficult is the glare you get from bright white paper and black text - so perhaps his kindle screen has less of a sharp contrast, and that helps?

[LordPalmerston]

Well I don't think that's relevant. Lovely as you may be.

[FortyDoorsToNowhere]

i prefer my ibook app, to poor for a kindle.

However i do like the feel of a book when feeling down and depressed

[GoshAnneGorilla]

I think the snobbery some people have about audio books is far worse.

Some arse on twitter declared that they looked down on anyone who chose an audio book over the printed version.

[ButThereAgain]

I like paper and ebooks. I do think publishers could still do a lot more to design their e-versions better, so that they don't feel like clumsily re-platformed paper publications. For example, I still don't have an intuitive feel for my arc of progress through an ebook, like I do with a paper book, and that does impact on the way I experience each stage of the book.

Soon people who prefer paper will start to seem quaint and precious, rather than aesthetically minded. Lots of paperback books these days are made with very grotty paper and binding and print these days, anyway. The Lindisfarne Gospels they ain't.

[Wuldric]

This post

if you use the Calibre software which stores your eBooks on your PC and download one of the extensions from Apprentice Alf, you can strip the DRM from the eBook and then share it as you wish.

Is it in Greek or Dutch?

[mignonnette]

LRD

Thanks for that. We have an ancient first gen Kindle and it has a greyish background. Maybe that contributes?

Wuldric YES! I thought that too . A whole other language. Elvish makes more sense.

[squoosh]

'Forgive me, but I disagree.'

'Books in one form or another' is a dodgy phrase. A kindle is a book 'in one form'. There is, arguably, just as much difference between a kindle and a modern printed book as there is between a manuscript and a modern printed book, or between a manuscript and a scroll.

So in that sense, no, books really haven't been around for millenia.

And they certainly weren't available 'to the masses' from the fifteenth century.

Forgiveness not needed, you can disagree all you like. The point I was making is that you can’t compare a physical book to a CD, CDs have had a teeny life span of three decades whereas physical books have been around for centuries. Printed books will become a more specialist field as the decades go on but I highly doubt they will ever be obsolete.

I believe the oldest book in existence is the Chinese Diamond sutra although I may be wrong there, it was printed in 500AD (?) so printing has really now spanned two millennia. And by availability to ‘the masses’ obviously I’m referring to the printing press and yes, I'm aware peasants weren’t receiving a weekly paperback to enjoy with their mug of mead but books were far more widely available than ever before.

[AfricanExport]

I think ebooks are marketing genius. Now every one has to buy the book. No more passing it on to your friend because you loved the book or dumping a box of books at the library so the whole town can read it. No, Now you have to each buy a copy.
That is why I don't like them. I think it's just a clever way of ripping us off.

I do see the point regarding ease of use though

[PacificDogwood]

Yy re marketing genius.

I am v conflicted about creative work also understandably needing to make money - I'd love all Art to be Pure Art for the love of it only. I am and at myself.

To my great surprise I ended up using the Kindle app on my idiotPhone all summer on holiday rather than the actual Kindle. Weird. V small screen an'all that, but I enjoyed it.

Interesting about the history of written stuff and its distribution over the millennia. Not such a long time ago the ability to read would not have been all that widespread either.

Also interesting about dyslexics describing different experiences with eReaders - like in so many things humans are all the same AND all different .

[LRDtheFeministDragon]

squoosh - yes, sure, CDs are different, though I think life span isn't the only relevant issue here.

I think the issue with comparing to a Chinese book is that unless a culture becomes familiar with a material product, it won't adapt to it simply because it exists somewhere else in the world. We know that people develop distinct cognitive responses to different material media. The fact that a book may have existed in China will not have prompted book-appropriate development in areas where scrolls were still being used.

The printing press is a bit of a red herring, at least as far as England is concerned. If you compare the numbers of surviving manuscript Bibles to early prints, you will see that.

If was crucial - but less crucial than people used to think.

[Squitten]

I like paper books and haven't got a Kindle yet.

I like books as display items - looking at the books in someone's home tells you a bit about them. I also like the fact you can personalise them, scribble in them, etc.I study history and it's fascinating to see the unique imprints left behind on paper by individuals.

I also love libraries and bookshops - could spend hours browsing the stacks!

[LRDtheFeministDragon]

mignon - I expect that might be it! I certainly prefer a greyish/yellowish background and many do.

[PiratePanda]

You e-reader fanatics do realise that you don't own any if the books you download? Under the T&Cs you're effectively renting them, and if Amazon or whoever decide to withdraw a book for whatever reason, it will be withdrawn from your e-reader too. Poof! They can even withdraw all your purchases if you violate their T&Cs.

Doesn't happen with paper books.

[LordPalmerston]

Meh. I never re read.