Does Anyone Buy Physical Books These Days?

[smwar1970]

Physical books are best

I read both, and have a number of ebooks, but for the most part, those are just fictional books that I read for fun. I'm a Ph.D. student in history and when it comes to the books I'm reading for my degree I never purchase them electronically. I prefer the feel of a physical book, the smell, the tactile experience. E books are convenient, but I can't see them replacing books anytime soon, or so I hope they don't.

 

[LadyX]

Does Anyone Buy Physical Books These Days?

The majority of ebooks (both paid and free) have very poor editing (typos, missing paragraphs, etc.) and annoying formatting errors. Also, images and diagrams don't look nice. I once read a biography filled with images, it was horrible on an ereader. The images were on one page and the captions on another. It was really annoying.

 

[SandboxGeneral]

The majority of ebooks (both paid and free) have very poor editing (typos, missing paragraphs, etc.) and annoying formatting errors. Also, images and diagrams don't look nice. I once read a biography filled with images, it was horrible on an ereader. The images were on one page and the captions on another. It was really annoying.

The typos and such in e-books is something I've noticed in many books I have read. I chalk it up to scanning the books in and OCR software interpreting the text wrong.

It is annoying, and I remember one book I read had an awful lot of problems in it.

 

[BlueSpruce]

I like both for different reading situations. I mainly use my iPad to read in bed at night so I don't have to keep a light on and keep my husband awake. We homeschool as well and I tend to buy copies of the books we'll read multiple times, or books with beautiful illustrations.

I also download a fair few audiobooks to listen to while I'm doing housework, or when driving in the car.

 

[rhett7660]

I do, but I also buy my fair share or real books. Especially when it comes to comic books and graphic novels.

 

[hrsetrdr]

I have wanted to buy ebooks but found that I can buy real books second-hand a lot cheaper.

 

[Scepticalscribe]

The majority of ebooks (both paid and free) have very poor editing (typos, missing paragraphs, etc.) and annoying formatting errors. Also, images and diagrams don't look nice. I once read a biography filled with images, it was horrible on an ereader. The images were on one page and the captions on another. It was really annoying.

I agree. And poorly edited books are a source of annoyance to me.

However, I am heartened to see from this thread alone (maybe it is a self-selecting sample) an unexpectedly large number of people, who have admitted that they actually take pleasure and joy from the simple act of physically handling a book, opening its pages, and settling into reading them…….

 

[Pagandeva2000]

I donated over 300 books to the library since Kindle came about. I am an obsessive reader. For the most part I think that I've paid less for my book habit since Kindle, ereader IQ and others have provided full novels and other genres for free or $.99. I don't have to worry about WHICH books to bring or putting strain on my back.

 

[happyfrappy]

I still buy physical books when the price is too close to digital or a used copy is cheap, why deal with DRM headaches or say if Amazon nuked your collection due to copyright dispute which impacted a few thousand people in the past few years(or fired you as a customer & all your digital stuff is gone making that Kindle a paperweight).

Since my Kindle developed a digitizer failure, flipping pages for subscribed newspapers is really pain in the rear... Amazon gave me a credit for a new Kindle since they don't repair out of warranty models, great customer support for loyalty so hopefully this black friday a nice promo occurs

 

[r.harris1]

I buy ebooks only for work related software development stuff. This keeps them off of my many, many bookshelves where the real action takes place. A real book, with real paper and real ink has absolutely no comparison to anything "e". And if you've never visited a really great used book store you don't know what you're missing. When we travel to the UK and we're in West Dorset, we always hit The Sanctuary in Lyme Regis, our absolute favorite book store. Piled high, crammed full, an adventure around every corner. What could be better?

 

[Fzang]

I like to use physical books as learning material, as they're faster to navigate and can be written in with ease.

But these days I'm happy to have an rMBP as I have 10 scientific article PDFs open at once. What a giant mess that would be, using paper. My old professor printed everything and sorted them by hand. He had more than 100 pages of cited references, edited by hand My OCD could never handle all that paper lying around.

 

[Xiroteus]

Library for one, I don't really buy books. Either way I prefer digital even though I like books. Tablets are easier to read on, no holding back pages etc... They also save an insane amount of space.

 

[0007776]

I prefer real books, I only go for eBooks if I'm traveling and finish what I brought to read and can't find something good in English locally. I've thought about buying ebooks to save on shelf space, but I just like real books too much to give them up.

 

[Melrose]

If the book is right, yes, absolutely.

I still have most of my books from childhood (all my Waldo books, lol), and select books I still pick up the hard copy if I'm going to read. Partly because I have a problem with reading comprehension I have to invest time to read - so I read mostly only stuff that really grabs me and I make it worth my while.

For some reason I have a hard time being really engaged or really activating my imagination if I'm reading off my iPad. Plus, I like the feel of the paper in my hands, the same as I like the scritchy-scritch of a Pilot G2 gel ink pen on a nice piece of 10# cotton blend paper.

 

[dingster1]

Very rarely. Running out of space for physical books in my apt. I tend to research multiple books whe. I'm preparing a class, so Kindle it is for me.

 

[AX338]

As technology progresses so we are losing a sense of tactility.

Taking an LP out of its sleeve and using a cloth to clear dust or putting a CD into its tray, opening a photo album and passing it around, winding a clock and of course turning the pages of a book...as much as I love the iPad these things are lost in the sands of cyber time.

 

[vulcanvillalta]

I buy books all the time. Usually I buy them used, but I still buy them all the time. I have a pretty big collection.

 

[Silencio]

I pretty much restrict my physical book purchases to coffee table quality art, design, and photography books. We've purchased some of our favorite novels in hardcover, and got rid of tons of paperbacks.

I love vinyl LPs, too. I have to be careful to restrict myself to only buying "essential" records, as they too take up a lot of space after a while.

 

[Scepticalscribe]

Well, in discussing the convenience of Kindle or other portable reading devices (and I see the advantages they confer - I just don't get much pleasure from their use, myself), and the drawbacks of personal libraries, there is another element that we may overlook, and it is this.

For years, one of the first things I always noticed when visiting a new house, (or visiting the room or flat of a guy I might have known at university) was to cast a rapid (and by no means uncritical) eye over his or their bookshelves. A domestic or personal library told you so much, not least the interests and mental landscape of the person whose home, or room, or flat, you were visiting.

I always found it a very useful shortcut - much like examining their record collection (vinyl, that is, to all of the youngsters reading this thread - and later CDs, though with CDS one had to squint to be able to read the titles of the albums as the writing was so small), which I also did - as they did mine; discussions ensued, questions were asked, and judgments were made (along the lines of "oh, you like what I like!" or, 'What do you mean, you don't like ……[insert name of obscure musician or writer or artist]?'……

I miss the demise of the personal library - trawling through someone's iPod or Cloud, or Kindle is not the same at all…….

Anyway, on music and books, I remain fervently old school. I have thousands and thousands of books (and am convinced they breed when I am not looking), and an awful lot of CDs……

 

[SandboxGeneral]

Well, in discussing the convenience of Kindle or other portable reading devices (and I see the advantages they confer - I just don't get much pleasure from their use, myself), and the drawbacks of personal libraries, there is another element that we may overlook, and it is this.

For years, one of the first things I always noticed when visiting a new house, (or visiting the room or flat of a guy I might have key at university) was to cast a rapid (and by no means uncritical) eye over his or their bookshelves. A domestic or personal library told you so much, not least the interests and mental landscape of the person whose home, or room, or flat, you were visiting.

I always found it a very useful shortcut - much like examining their record collection (vinyl, that is, to all of the youngsters reading this thread - and later CDs, though with CDS one had to squint to be able to read the titles of the albums as the writing was so small), which I also did - as they did mine; discussions ensued, questions were asked, and judgments were made (along the lines of "oh, you like what I like!" or, 'What do you mean, you don't like ……[insert name of obscure musician or writer or artist]?'……

I miss the demise of the personal library - trawling ting through someone's iPod or Cloud, or Kindle is not the same at all…….

Anyway, on music and books, I remain fervently old school. I have thousands and thousands of books (and am convinced they breed when I am not looking), and an awful lot of CDs……

I agree with you 100%.

However, people, like myself, who are getting more into the digital life and wish to lighten their loads will not have extensive personal libraries of books and CD's and such.

One can gain a lot of information about another just from the books they read and the music they listen to. Without that stuff on a visible shelf, you don't get that read of someone.

I own no music on any physical media anymore. It's all in iTunes or Spotify, on the computer and iPhone.

I have few books anymore and just last week donated a bunch that I had been through already, at least once.

Every once in a while I go through my apartment and clean out stuff that I don't use anymore. Usually, if I haven't used something in more than a year, it goes. I've been doing this little by little over the last month. I happen to collect more stuff over time and have to clear it out.

I still have DVD's and Blu-ray's in a credenza and I gave thought to giving them away or selling them since I've converted them all to iTunes.

 

[Scepticalscribe]

But here is another thought, or two.

You write of DVDs and Blu-ray; I remember the video cassette format war of the 1980s, (VHS and Betamax) and the incredibly convoluted machines that were invented to play them (and eventually, record on them).

Yet that technology, barely a quarter of a century old, is already redundant and obsolete. I never learned to record (as in preset the timer) a VHS machine, I never watched much TV, and it was easier to rearrange my life in other ways.

A disgraceful - well, slightly embarrassing, admission: I once re-arranged the times I taught some evening classes in order to be able to watch STNG - recording it while I was teaching was too much of a convoluted complication, difficult and not at all intuitive - it was easier to get the university to rearrange the time of the classes. Needless to say, this was not the excuse I used at the time; I seem to recall that 'pressure of work' was invoked.

However, my point is that some technologies, deemed so 'cutting edge' and necessary are rendered completely obsolete within an extraordinarily short space of time.

Yet, a book is never obsolete, and books written years, decades, and centuries ago are still accessible, provided, that is, that one knows the actual language in which they are written. Books remain timeless……whereas some of the more modern forms of archival material (5" floppies? and the 3" floppies?) on which information has been stored are already inaccessible to almost everyone barely a quarter of a century after they were invented.

 

[malman89]

I only buy physical books; I have never owned an e-reader/tablet for reading.

Now I will admit the amount of books I buy has dipped considerably, but I think that's mostly no longer being in a city (Chicago) that has ample used bookstores. I go to the suburban library instead.

The only time I can remember reading PDFs/ebooks was some academic journal PDFs in college and then the waiting list for The Hunger Games was months long (literally - audiobooks too), so I found some free PDFs online and read the trilogy in a week instead. I'm also the type who prints out the PDF version of my textbook at work for class for free.

 

[SandboxGeneral]

But here is another thought, or two.

You write of DVDs and Blu-ray; I remember the video cassette format war of the 1980s, (VHS and Betamax) and the incredibly convoluted machines that were invented to play them (and eventually, record on them).

Yet that technology, barely a quarter of a century old, is already redundant and obsolete. I never learned to record (as in preset the timer) a VHS machine, I never watched much TV, and it was easier to rearrange my life in other ways.

A disgraceful - well, slightly embarrassing, admission: I once re-arranged the times I taught some evening classes in order to be able to watch STNG - recording it while I was teaching was too much of a convoluted complication, difficult and not at all intuitive - it was easier to get the university to rearrange the time of the classes. Needless to say, this was not the excuse I used at the time; I seem to recall that 'pressure of work' was invoked.

However, my point is that some technologies, deemed so 'cutting edge' and necessary are rendered completely obsolete within an extraordinarily short space of time.

Yet, a book is never obsolete, and books written years, decades, and centuries ago are still accessible, provided, that is, that one knows the actual language in which they are written. Books remain timeless……whereas some of the more modern forms of archival material (5" floppies? and the 3" floppies?) on which information has been stored are already inaccessible to almost everyone barely a quarter of a century after they were invented.

More good points. The transition of media formats moves quickly. I even used mini-disc's for a period of a few years in the late 1990's. They were between the CD and the MP3 digital format and iPod's. I loved the Sony Mini-Disc player I had and used it a lot while on deployments. I'm willing to believe that many people born in the '90's never heard of of Mini-Disc. That further illustrates your point of media coming and going rapidly in comparison to books.

You are ever so correct about them being timeless. As long as one is literate in the language a book was written, it matters not if it was written in 2014 or 1611. It's still the same and no electricity is required to use it!

In the time from my earlier post and this one, I finished a book, a real, physical book, that I picked up last week. It felt great holding it in my hand, flipping the pages, reading the words on them. The best tangible feeling I get is when I am near the end, especially on hardbacks, the feeling of the hard cover with only a few pages on it between your fingers. The anticipation and excitement build subconsciously as the end draws nigh. Then the feeling of accomplishment sets in and I feel good about myself for making it. I don't quite get the same high as when I finish a book on the Kindle.

 

[Scepticalscribe]

More good points. The transition of media formats moves quickly. I even used mini-disc's for a period of a few years in the late 1990's. They were between the CD and the MP3 digital format and iPod's. I loved the Sony Mini-Disc player I had and used it a lot while on deployments. I'm willing to believe that many people born in the '90's never heard of of Mini-Disc. That further illustrates your point of media coming and going rapidly in comparison to books.

You are ever so correct about them being timeless. As long as one is literate in the language a book was written, it matters not if it was written in 2014 or 1611. It's still the same and no electricity is required to use it!

In the time from my earlier post and this one, I finished a book, a real, physical book, that I picked up last week. It felt great holding it in my hand, flipping the pages, reading the words on them. The best tangible feeling I get is when I am near the end, especially on hardbacks, the feeling of the hard cover with only a few pages on it between your fingers. The anticipation and excitement build subconsciously as the end draws nigh. Then the feeling of accomplishment sets in and I feel good about myself for making it. I don't quite get the same high as when I finish a book on the Kindle.

Actually, I do remember the mini disc (and the mini cassette, with which a small, forgotten technology was fought). I can well imagine that they aided the passage of time during your deployments.

A the time, I made enquiries of people I knew who worked in electronics shops as to whether they thought this was a device with staying power.

They didn't, and so I passed on that whole evolution of technology, and, as I mentioned above, I never learned to preset a video recorder - and now, hardly need to to know this, as DVDs will readily fill that gap, (and are a lot easier to use than the old VHS players/recorders). I did graduate to CDs, (and later, briefly, to a Sony Discman which was greedy on batteries, and thus, not as useful as it might have been on long journeys…) and although I bypassed mini-discs, and mini-cassettes, I became quite a devotee of the iPod, (a device which was recently taken to the great veterinarian in the sky to be put to sleep……somewhat prematurely, in my view, but there you are……)

So, whole swathes of technology are already obsolete - and not just obsolete - but the information they hold has either regarded or is utterly inaccessible (some data stored in the last 20 years on some university libraries - the old 'space saving' argument being the justification at the time is already both degraded and obsolete, and can only be rescued with the aid of hard copies, a fate never likely to be the case with the actual hard copies themselves. Books - such as illuminated manuscripts written centuries ago, are still accessible…...

Moreover, here, the interesting lesson is that one does not have to master every technological breakthrough; you can skip entire generations of technological advances, and still keep up. In other words, you can quite reasonably run your life and your relationship with technology on a 'a-la-carte' basis, picking and choosing which you need to know, and master, while discarding and ignoring that which you feel to be less relevant to your needs.

Edit: And yes, there is a huge, physical pleasure in reading a book; I share your love for hardbacks and order them whenever I have the option, especially if it is a book I may wish to keep. And yes, I also share your feelings of anticipatory pleasure and delight when approaching the end of a solid, hefty, well produced (and much enjoyed) hardback book…….the last five Harry Potter books fell into that category for me…..

 

[Melrose]

I have wanted to buy ebooks but found that I can buy real books second-hand a lot cheaper.

This. Or, in my case, just take them out of the library. Although, oddly, for me, knowing it's not my book means I'll be less likely to take the time to read it... :?