1. Easy to read - I'm not staring at/near a light source, just reflected light;
2. A physical size appropriate to the material - there's an art to page layout, and a technical text is not a fiction paperback;
3. Can have 2, sometimes 3, pages open at once without the need to resize;
4. Can annotate with a comfortable, soft pencil;
5. Original text and annotations at a fantastic resolution;
6. Can be taken into the bathroom - how I love to read in the bath;
7. If lost or damaged, most don't cost the earth to replace;
8. Heuristic "I saw it on or around that page" search algorithms quicker by flipping through pages rather than typing in page numbers then clicking forward/back;
9. Allows wider overview or review of book or chapter through more aggressive page-flipping, with semi-conscious memory reinforcement;
10. Can lend book for an hour or so to friend in class / on train / at work without giving them short tutorial on how to use book;
11. Finding a book on a well-organised bookshelf is quicker than locating and opening an e-book, as well as allowing the eye to take in a huge list of related books with cues on size/shape/etc to help identify and remember them;
12. Indeed, recollection from a physical book seems easier as information can be associated with a particular page and its nuances: the physical layout, the weight of each side of the book, the angle at which you held it, how easy the page was to open, perhaps a slight change in ink tone, a blemish...
13. A good index is almost always sufficient, and the act of scanning through the index helps either jog memory or provide related words (as better electronic search engines are learning to emulate).
If reading on a Kindle is bad, then reading on an iPhone is like squinting at a text through the keyhole of a prison door - sure, the information is there, and to some people that's good enough, but what inefficiency, sterility, and strain on the eyes!
And let's not forget:
14: When you hear,
"The aircraft's door has been shut; please turn off all electronics...", you don't have to do anything but keep reading. Ditto for
"In preparation for landing...", which means that you're spared from having to read that in-flight catalog yet again. Afterall, that's basic reason why you're carrying a book on the flight in the first place!
15: After you've finished reading your book, you can sell it used, give it to a friend, or donate it to your local library...all without any difficulty or possible hassles of the piracy police chasing after you.
16. Versus ($360 + $9/book), one can read roughly 72 books at $15 each and still be financially ahead of the game: at a rate of 2 books/month, that's a period of 3 years, at no time which you've had to worry about progressively shorter reading periods due to your non-existing battery getting worn out...or the additional maintenance costs of keeping an e-device running.
17. Of course, if you resell your used books, one can even read just-released hardbacks at the same 3 year ROI...or you can read an infinite number of mainstream paperbacks. Given that 'new' hardbacks get discounted fairly quickly and that there's a billion older books out there that we haven't read yet, it doesn't take that long to get 6-12 months behind on one's reading, at which point the idea of a $25 hardback no longer exists: simply put it on your shopping list to pick up in 6 months and it will be cheap.
18. If it gets wet in the rain, it can be dried out and recovered; zero cost. Can be done while away from home with no special equipment required.
19. If its not really a very good book, it can be recycled in (6), or used to start a fire.
20. Its illustrations can even be in color!
FWIW, I don't expect that the eBook will be "never", but simply that the Kindle still is more gimmick than a compelling and viable contender for the segments of 'recreational readers' that it is being marketed to. An eBook format is a good idea to replace an encyclopaedica reference (mechanic's repair manuals, etc), but for the application where one generally only carries one (/few) book at a time, all it really does is reduce the physical volume that books occupy back at home, either on shelves in the home library, or in boxes in the attic.
Personally, I already have a hunch as to just where a big adoption breakthrough is going to be: its not going to be in mainstream fiction, but in those low volume $100+ hardbacks that many of us bought for four years. The technology question is how to get the yellow highlighter marks off the display screen.
-hh
