SMBC Comics Forum

I am a bit curious about this one, I have a huge collection of paperbacks ( 2172 last count) as I am an avid reader. You could even call me a bibliophile if you want, but I would punch you. All my books are either on several shelves throughout the house or in boxes in the basement. Recently, due to the cost of paperbacks, I have been downloading a ton of e-books. Allot of people I talk to say they cannot read a book on the computer screen, whereas I have no issue at all in doing so. Also I have found that there is a ton of short story collections and books from authors I like that I cannot get in paperback (or if I can it is a special order which = mucho $$) from my local bookstore, but are readily available in e-book format.

So the questions are:
1) Do any of you have issues with reading a book on-line?
2) Do you prefer to fork out the cash to have a tangible book that you can read anywhere if you were offered the choice? ie. you were offered the choice between 10$ paperback or 5$ e-book for a book that you wanted to purchase.

Personally I prefer having the paperback if given the choice, but I have and do read e-books.

I used to have a lot of trouble reading things on my computer, and then one day I just seemed to have gotten over it. Personally I attribute the change to my discovery of the Gutenberg project, and my desire to read public domain books just outweighed any aversions I might have had.

In fact the only thing that makes paperbacks at all better is that they're much more convenient. I think though that if I could find (afford) a portable device I could upload pdf files onto, I would be set.

While I much prefer having a tangible book, the main issue for me is portability. If somebody gave me a free e-book reader that could parse any format and every book I would want to read was available as an e-book, I would probably go for it.

I spend a lot of time away from a computer, you see. Also the e-book reader would need to fit in a cargo pocket and be mil-spec durable. Yay Adventuring!

I have a reader, and boy do I hate it. I don't know if it is because the screen is too small, but I would much rather have it on my comp or laptop. Also, most of my books go on the laptop so I have the portable aspect there, even if it is large.

Would you be willing to give up your miniscule e-reader if there was a possibility that it dies an ignominious death whilst I crawl around exploring the Urban version of a cave system?

Because there are seriously a lot of stormwater management tunnels around my place, and I do not want to risk my Laptop in them.

If I can find it's resting place somewhere in the electronics graveyard that is my basement, I will happily send it to you at no charge. That is how much I do not want it. It is like reading e-mails on a blackberry to me, and nothing makes me more frustrated than reading e-mails on a blackberry.

except for reading books on an e-reader and body odor on a cabbie

Edminster wrote: I spend a lot of time away from a computer, you see.

Hypothetical? I seem to remember you modding at a party...

Personally, I agree, though. I read in bed, and I have no laptop. In fact, I have no laptop, and therefore have absolutely no desire to read anything on the computer. But even then I don't think I would. I just like the experience of page turning, or just finding some corner to read in, without having to worry about charged batteries or whathaveyou.

The Party Modding Experience is what forced me to realise that I need to spend at least a few hours every day exploring the world away from the cramped confines of the Computer Room. So, I spend a lot of it exploring pipes that are one meter in diameter.

You are canadian mario.

I've never been fond of e-books, I dislike reading on a screen because it's too hard to flip back and forth between pages. The most I use them for are foreign language books, because I can find tons of Kafka and Márquez online. I have a lot of role-playing books saved on my computer but that's because they're too expensive to buy; I'd still rather have a paper copy. The exception is for very short texts, where I have less trouble remembering the plot and less trouble finding old spots, but I still buy a lot of short-story collections. I guess part of it is that I'm a bit of a collector and like to own things. The biggest problem I have right now is that I buy books faster than I can read them (I am a goddamn slow reader), but I have a ton of free time now that I've finished my exams.

Khazd wrote:If I can find it's resting place somewhere in the electronics graveyard that is my basement, I will happily send it to you at no charge.

If you don't mind looking for it this would be super-cool. I've been interested in trying one for a while now, but never had enough money to buy.

Cirtur wrote:You are canadian mario.

Not until I brutally stomp on a turtle. Check back sometime later this week.

LordRetard wrote:I guess part of it is that I'm a bit of a collector and like to own things. The biggest problem I have right now is that I buy books faster than I can read them (I am a goddamn slow reader), but I have a ton of free time now that I've finished my exams.

I too am something of a pack-rat when it comes to books. Only recently did I find out the joys of the Library system, but that's only because almost all of the books I own are currently in storage. The slow reader thing I can't really understand, but that's probably because I read insanely fast (11-13 syllables per second, according to one of the Brain Age games)

Ach, you bastard. I'm the only one in my family who can't read insanely fast; my biggest obstacle is that my poor memory and focus means that I spend a lot of time going back and forth between pages and rereading things, even if I read close to an average speed on the rest. I had this conversation with one of my brothers, the exchange is that I can do mental math quicker than anyone I know, so I guess that's cool, but never useful; except for smaller numbers and addition and subtraction, it's always quicker to use a calculator.

I work at a library so I guess I should take out a lot of books, but I don't like having a time-limit to read. Plus after I read a book I want to buy it for future reference, I frequently find myself looking back at books just to remember one particularly well-phrased sentence.

I would probably enjoy reading on my computer if I didn't have these goddamn headaches all the time. It seems the glow from the monitor just enrages the brain-biting gremlins that swarm around my cranium all day long, so I tend to stick with paper. However, even that is difficult because of the headaches.

Seriously, I get at least one a day.

In fact, I have one right now.

But yeah I would love to read more e-books. I still really like having a book of my own that I can annotate in and stain and love. But e-books are more E-fficient.

ha

Do you use an LCD monitor or an older CRT one? I know that a lot of people get headaches from using a CRT monitor with a low refresh rate... But a quick internet search shows that some people have the same problem with LCDs, probably due to the fluorescent backlight. Maybe consider changing your monitor.

It also would be nice to be able to annotate e-books... I dislike annotations because they damage the copy, but with an e-book it would be easy to hide or erase them.

I had a large collection of childrens books, half of which I must have really read. Stll a big thing I guess?
We donated it to the library, and it doesn't seem that they used many of them.