Confessions of a Kindle Convert
December 21, 2020 6:53 AM Subscribe
Mefi-fave author of The Library Book Susan Orlean confesses she does most of her reading on a Kindle. “I read a lot of books, and I take chances on a lot of them: I’ll come across a promising review and take a plunge. The Kindle has made me more daring that way.” (Medium)
I do most of my reading on the Kindle (despite still buying tons of paperbacks) because I can read in bed after everyone else has gone to sleep. I can read with one eye open and half my head crammed into a pillow. I can read under the covers like a kid with a flashlight. I can finish a book partway through the night and then immediately click on a new one without getting up and shuffling around in my pajamas. I can read hanging from a strap on a bus while bouncing between sweaty strangers. I can read while waiting in line, a world of books always accessible from my small purse like a Mary Poppins bag.
posted by tofu_crouton at 7:28 AM on December 21, 2020 [44 favorites]
posted by tofu_crouton at 7:28 AM on December 21, 2020 [44 favorites]
Also, she mentions wishing that you could buy ebook + physical book bundles. That is also a wishlist item for me too, but one place that currently does it well is Verso.
posted by tofu_crouton at 7:29 AM on December 21, 2020 [14 favorites]
posted by tofu_crouton at 7:29 AM on December 21, 2020 [14 favorites]
In my mind the venn diagram of people who would scorn you for choosing ebook format over paper book format is an overlapping circle with people who would scorn you for taking antidepressants instead of skipping gleefully though the woodlands like a fucking dryad.
I'm not sure that e-readers really need an apologist in the year of our lord 2020 but if you've been on the fence about making the switch because of some kind of internalized conflict re the moral superiority of paper, please know that's crap. You will have to pry my paperwhite kindle from my cold, dead hands.
posted by phunniemee at 7:30 AM on December 21, 2020 [66 favorites]
I'm not sure that e-readers really need an apologist in the year of our lord 2020 but if you've been on the fence about making the switch because of some kind of internalized conflict re the moral superiority of paper, please know that's crap. You will have to pry my paperwhite kindle from my cold, dead hands.
posted by phunniemee at 7:30 AM on December 21, 2020 [66 favorites]
I'm not a particular fan of the Kindle specifically, but any decent eink tablet thing makes a much better book than any other kind of electronic device and in some ways can even be better than actual books.
Physical books are still better for most uses other than reading a novel start to finish, though.
posted by wierdo at 7:34 AM on December 21, 2020 [5 favorites]
Physical books are still better for most uses other than reading a novel start to finish, though.
posted by wierdo at 7:34 AM on December 21, 2020 [5 favorites]
Kindle is about to help me in a unique way - I spent a month or so on a hunt for cheap used copies of the complete set of a specific four-book series, and then set them aside for winter "when I'll be wanting to curl up with a book". And now that I have the time....I cannot for the life of me find the first book out of that series. I know it is somewhere in my apartment - even my roommate remembers seeing it as recently as last month - but it is hiding on me. Meanwhile, books 2-4 in the series are sitting and staring at me in the neat pile I'd stacked them in.
I am admitting defeat and will buy the first book on Kindle just so I can read the damn thing, and will hope that book 1 turns up eventually.
posted by EmpressCallipygos at 7:37 AM on December 21, 2020 [4 favorites]
I am admitting defeat and will buy the first book on Kindle just so I can read the damn thing, and will hope that book 1 turns up eventually.
posted by EmpressCallipygos at 7:37 AM on December 21, 2020 [4 favorites]
Reading on a kindle has improved my reading habits in one very specific and powerful way, which is that now I look up words I don't know every time. Touching a word to bring up a dictionary is the kindle's killer feature, in my opinion.
posted by Rinku at 7:43 AM on December 21, 2020 [36 favorites]
posted by Rinku at 7:43 AM on December 21, 2020 [36 favorites]
Also, she mentions wishing that you could buy ebook + physical book bundles. That is also a wishlist item for me too,
And me.
Amazon used to do this - it was called Matchbook. Publishers objected when they launched it, and ultimately they shut it down in 2019, believe in part because there was such low interest from customers.
posted by NotMyselfRightNow at 7:44 AM on December 21, 2020 [3 favorites]
And me.
Amazon used to do this - it was called Matchbook. Publishers objected when they launched it, and ultimately they shut it down in 2019, believe in part because there was such low interest from customers.
posted by NotMyselfRightNow at 7:44 AM on December 21, 2020 [3 favorites]
Many technical book publishers offer options to purchase ebook only, ebook+print, or print book only. e.g. Manning even offers the option of getting the ebook for free if you have already purchased the pBook (their term not mine) elsewhere.
posted by needled at 7:46 AM on December 21, 2020 [3 favorites]
posted by needled at 7:46 AM on December 21, 2020 [3 favorites]
Love my Kindle! A favorite feature for me is the ability to get sample chapters sent to the Kindle. This has gone a long way to me getting a lot more of the books I like since I have chance to check out the first few chapters first and see if I'm hooked.
posted by WhyamIhereagain at 7:58 AM on December 21, 2020 [6 favorites]
posted by WhyamIhereagain at 7:58 AM on December 21, 2020 [6 favorites]
Travel, something I remember doing once in the past, was also my entrance into the joy of ebooks. Also convenient that I don't have to plan in advance what I might want to read when I leave the house, should I ever do that either.
But they are also good for baths and reading in the dark, or, even better, baths in the dark.
posted by jeather at 7:58 AM on December 21, 2020 [11 favorites]
But they are also good for baths and reading in the dark, or, even better, baths in the dark.
posted by jeather at 7:58 AM on December 21, 2020 [11 favorites]
I do a ton of reading on my aged and battered Nook Simple Touch because (A) I have the entire 60,000-book library from Project Gutenberg and much of the best written literature in history available to me for nada and (B) the form factor of a little reader stuffed with books is an improvement over wrangling a big floppy book and the library that contains it. I love being able to chuck a hand-friendly reader with a couple thousand books in it in a bag when I go camping, for instance, as opposed to bringing a book that always turns out not to be the right book for the trip.
That said, the kneejerk complaint from the true-believers club that e-readers are an inherently horrid way to read (an argument that often comes down to a strange obsession with the lack of book smell from an e-reader, for some insane reason) is nothing on when you mention in polite society that you prefer audiobooks in large part because oral narratives have a 50,000 year history in our species and printed narratives, for the vast majority of us, have only been easily accessible for a few hundred years.
I do wish we had more choice when it comes to e-readers, though.
posted by sonascope at 8:02 AM on December 21, 2020 [15 favorites]
That said, the kneejerk complaint from the true-believers club that e-readers are an inherently horrid way to read (an argument that often comes down to a strange obsession with the lack of book smell from an e-reader, for some insane reason) is nothing on when you mention in polite society that you prefer audiobooks in large part because oral narratives have a 50,000 year history in our species and printed narratives, for the vast majority of us, have only been easily accessible for a few hundred years.
I do wish we had more choice when it comes to e-readers, though.
posted by sonascope at 8:02 AM on December 21, 2020 [15 favorites]
A small gripe. Sometimes I am reading a suspenseful book and my Kindle tells me I have 10% left and then the book suddenly ends and I realize that 10% extra was a preview of the next book from the same author. That doesn't happen with paper books.
posted by dances_with_sneetches at 8:02 AM on December 21, 2020 [44 favorites]
posted by dances_with_sneetches at 8:02 AM on December 21, 2020 [44 favorites]
I buy about 80% ebooks and the rest physical. I also primarily use the kindle app on my laptop and phone - hardly ever use my actual kindle.
I dunno. Is there still broad hate for ebooks, or is it mostly anti-amazon and the resulting decline of indy bookstores at this point?
posted by MillMan at 8:03 AM on December 21, 2020 [1 favorite]
I dunno. Is there still broad hate for ebooks, or is it mostly anti-amazon and the resulting decline of indy bookstores at this point?
posted by MillMan at 8:03 AM on December 21, 2020 [1 favorite]
A book is a container. It's what's inside that matters. It doesn't make a lick of difference whether you read the contents on paper, on a Kindle, on your phone, your computer, as an audiobook, or whatever the fuck method you use to enjoy it.
posted by SansPoint at 8:05 AM on December 21, 2020 [13 favorites]
posted by SansPoint at 8:05 AM on December 21, 2020 [13 favorites]
I've always been the sort of person who has a stack of books in the "to read" pile. If you'd told teenage me I could carry that pile around with me all the time I would have happily said "stuff your flying cars" when it came to the future.
Nothing will replace the pleasure of browsing in secondhand bookshops, but this year has done for that anyway.
posted by YoungStencil at 8:06 AM on December 21, 2020 [23 favorites]
Nothing will replace the pleasure of browsing in secondhand bookshops, but this year has done for that anyway.
posted by YoungStencil at 8:06 AM on December 21, 2020 [23 favorites]
I tried to read a paperback book in bed recently and I can't remember how I ever thought that was a comfortable thing to do. No soothing adjustable backlight, verso and recto pages needing different holding positions, hurts when it falls on you while you're holding it over your face.. just awful.
posted by theodolite at 8:07 AM on December 21, 2020 [11 favorites]
posted by theodolite at 8:07 AM on December 21, 2020 [11 favorites]
I recently picked up an e ink tablet to wean me from my phone since I mostly just read on it anyway. I'm using it to write this comment. It's my primary way to get the news and visit this site now, and my phone battery lasts three or four days. The display is great and being limited to b&w reduces the risk for distraction.
Reading books on the tablet is mostly just ok. If pdfs are formatted wrong they don't work great. But I always have a stack of books with me I wouldn't otherwise.
posted by St. Oops at 8:08 AM on December 21, 2020 [1 favorite]
Reading books on the tablet is mostly just ok. If pdfs are formatted wrong they don't work great. But I always have a stack of books with me I wouldn't otherwise.
posted by St. Oops at 8:08 AM on December 21, 2020 [1 favorite]
I have never had a Kindle, but as a late convert to even the smartphone (2019) I've been marveling over reading on my phone's Kindle app (and my library's Libby app--yes, I know they play together but I just haven't gotten that far yet). It's been good for me as my eyesight has given me some aging challenges.
And BookBub, for daily notification of cheap Kindle deals, is a godsend; I've gotten recent, good books (Atwood, Jemisen, etc.) for 2 or 3 bucks that way.
posted by dlugoczaj at 8:09 AM on December 21, 2020 [5 favorites]
And BookBub, for daily notification of cheap Kindle deals, is a godsend; I've gotten recent, good books (Atwood, Jemisen, etc.) for 2 or 3 bucks that way.
posted by dlugoczaj at 8:09 AM on December 21, 2020 [5 favorites]
I shunned eBooks for a long time. Then a coworker gave me his kindle one day at lunch and said “Just play around with it” and I was hooked. Then my library started offering eBooks and that totally rocked my world. THEN I went on a trip and could take tons of eBooks with me “just in case”.
Now I probably read 70% of my books on my kindle. I still like having print books around me. If I read an eBook and love it, I’ll buy a print version.
Honestly, I don’t care one bit about HOW people read. I just care about people having access to books in the way that works for them.
posted by bookmammal at 8:11 AM on December 21, 2020 [9 favorites]
Now I probably read 70% of my books on my kindle. I still like having print books around me. If I read an eBook and love it, I’ll buy a print version.
Honestly, I don’t care one bit about HOW people read. I just care about people having access to books in the way that works for them.
posted by bookmammal at 8:11 AM on December 21, 2020 [9 favorites]
I tried to read a paperback book in bed recently and I can't remember how I ever thought that was a comfortable thing to do.
I've had this same experience and realized that it comes down to how, when I was a kid, I could bend my weird little boneless kid body into pretzel shapes and never need ibuprofen, and that reading was so new and powerful that one often completely forgot the physical qualities and limitations of being a being in a space…which, in my fifties, is entirely less likely.
posted by sonascope at 8:12 AM on December 21, 2020 [31 favorites]
I've had this same experience and realized that it comes down to how, when I was a kid, I could bend my weird little boneless kid body into pretzel shapes and never need ibuprofen, and that reading was so new and powerful that one often completely forgot the physical qualities and limitations of being a being in a space…which, in my fifties, is entirely less likely.
posted by sonascope at 8:12 AM on December 21, 2020 [31 favorites]
I feel like more of a consumer-slave because not only have I almost completely given up on physical books, I also primarily read them on my ipad. The 10.2 ipad screen, set to black background with large print is a much better reading experience for me than anything else I've tried, and cheaper than Amazon's fanciest kindle. And the dictionary is awesome.
posted by skewed at 8:13 AM on December 21, 2020 [2 favorites]
posted by skewed at 8:13 AM on December 21, 2020 [2 favorites]
Another plus for me is having the kindle app on my phone and tablet, as well as my physical Kindle, synced up with each other.
That way if I'm out in the real world without my kindle and have to wait in line or something, I whip out my phone, read whatever is current, and when I get home I can keep reading on the kindle without having to fish around for the right location.
posted by signal at 8:13 AM on December 21, 2020 [8 favorites]
That way if I'm out in the real world without my kindle and have to wait in line or something, I whip out my phone, read whatever is current, and when I get home I can keep reading on the kindle without having to fish around for the right location.
posted by signal at 8:13 AM on December 21, 2020 [8 favorites]
After a year of checking out audiobooks on Libby and a few years of not really using my Kindle, I found out that Libby can also check out ebooks to your Kindle and now I'm reading on it a lot more!
Frustration: this depends on the publisher. There are a lot of books I go to read on Libby and want to send to my Kindle that aren't allowed. =/ This feature is what finally pushed me into getting a Kindle, versus a Libra or something, and it's been really blah, especially as I can't get Calibre plugins to work to get them transferred.
So, head's up before you take the plunge on a Kindle expecting this to work seamlessly 100% of the time.
(having a Kindle - Paperwhite in this case - has been pretty amazing, despite that, and I don't regret it)
posted by curious nu at 8:15 AM on December 21, 2020 [5 favorites]
Frustration: this depends on the publisher. There are a lot of books I go to read on Libby and want to send to my Kindle that aren't allowed. =/ This feature is what finally pushed me into getting a Kindle, versus a Libra or something, and it's been really blah, especially as I can't get Calibre plugins to work to get them transferred.
So, head's up before you take the plunge on a Kindle expecting this to work seamlessly 100% of the time.
(having a Kindle - Paperwhite in this case - has been pretty amazing, despite that, and I don't regret it)
posted by curious nu at 8:15 AM on December 21, 2020 [5 favorites]
I don't know what I'd do without my Kindle Fire 6, and what a remarkable piece of equipment! I bought it in '14 and it still works like it's brand new. I primarily use it to read fiction - history, bios, tech etc I still like to buy in hard back if it's in my budget. I borrow all my fiction from our wonderful free library via Amazon, and I will never run out of good reads. I have never purchased a ebook, I don't see the sense it it. What do you actually own? How do you keep track of them?
dances_with_sneetches: Yeah, you figure you have enough to read until you drop off. 2 minutes later you can hear me scream into the darkness: Why?? lol
posted by james33 at 8:17 AM on December 21, 2020
dances_with_sneetches: Yeah, you figure you have enough to read until you drop off. 2 minutes later you can hear me scream into the darkness: Why?? lol
posted by james33 at 8:17 AM on December 21, 2020
I read books on the Kindle app on my iPhone 7 Plus (the big size). I've gotten so used to reading in dark rooms, in bed before sleeping, etc that I have read even very long books— for hours at a time— on my phone screen. I set it to dark mode (black screen, white letters) and can read all day or night that way.
I bought a Kindle Paperwhite a couple years ago, and while I like it, I just prefer the convenience of reading on my phone. I hear all the typical complaints about eye strain and such and it's just not an issue for me. I recently bought some used paperbacks and I still haven't gotten around to them because I need adequate lighting. And I'm just so used to reading in the dark now it's hard to go back.
posted by SoberHighland at 8:18 AM on December 21, 2020 [2 favorites]
I bought a Kindle Paperwhite a couple years ago, and while I like it, I just prefer the convenience of reading on my phone. I hear all the typical complaints about eye strain and such and it's just not an issue for me. I recently bought some used paperbacks and I still haven't gotten around to them because I need adequate lighting. And I'm just so used to reading in the dark now it's hard to go back.
posted by SoberHighland at 8:18 AM on December 21, 2020 [2 favorites]
Seems like everyone here is pro-Kindle, and that's fine. I took mine camping and it was great. And I'm not about to wax poetic about the smell of books. The problem I have with reading on a Kindle--aside from 60 years of habit--is that I often want to page back to an earlier passage, which I can do kinetically with a book book. Isn't that difficult on a Kindle, or am I just being obstreperous?
posted by kozad at 8:19 AM on December 21, 2020 [22 favorites]
posted by kozad at 8:19 AM on December 21, 2020 [22 favorites]
Sometimes I am reading a suspenseful book and my Kindle tells me I have 10% left and then the book suddenly ends and I realize that 10% extra was a preview of the next book from the same author. That doesn't happen with paper books.
Sorry to break it to you, but this can totally happen with physical books. Most of the 'series' books I've read this year (yeah, I am the rare remaining physical book person) have had the first chapter of the next book at the end, and I've absolutely been surprised by it.
posted by kaibutsu at 8:21 AM on December 21, 2020 [13 favorites]
Sorry to break it to you, but this can totally happen with physical books. Most of the 'series' books I've read this year (yeah, I am the rare remaining physical book person) have had the first chapter of the next book at the end, and I've absolutely been surprised by it.
posted by kaibutsu at 8:21 AM on December 21, 2020 [13 favorites]
kozad: Flipping back and forth through pages is a huge downside to Kindle reading. Also, some books I read have maps or illustrations which are a PITA to refer to quickly on a Kindle. Your issue is 100% valid IMO.
posted by SoberHighland at 8:22 AM on December 21, 2020 [18 favorites]
posted by SoberHighland at 8:22 AM on December 21, 2020 [18 favorites]
The biggest advantage of Kindles is the ability move move without packing for days. I still have an entire wall of books, but almost every book I've bought since about 2009 has been on Kindle. The Paperwhite is very nice as is being able to switch between an iPad and Kindle mid-book.
posted by CheeseDigestsAll at 8:23 AM on December 21, 2020 [2 favorites]
posted by CheeseDigestsAll at 8:23 AM on December 21, 2020 [2 favorites]
The experience of being able to quickly flip between sections is a thing the e-ink ereader experience falls far short of paper on, amen corner on that aspect. (Other downsides are mostly industry distortion--the unnecessary convolutions of library booking, Amazon's outsized gravity in the sector, publishers colluding Who Us? price-fixing, all that wearying stuff.)
I'm also in the snarkier choir who doesn't have much patience for the waxing-rhapsodic-about-smell-of-paper-every-book-is-a-sacred-object thing, though that's much less prevalent these days now that the novelty of the devices are well and truly wearing off.
posted by Drastic at 8:26 AM on December 21, 2020
I'm also in the snarkier choir who doesn't have much patience for the waxing-rhapsodic-about-smell-of-paper-every-book-is-a-sacred-object thing, though that's much less prevalent these days now that the novelty of the devices are well and truly wearing off.
posted by Drastic at 8:26 AM on December 21, 2020
Sometimes I am reading a suspenseful book and my Kindle tells me I have 10% left and then the book suddenly ends and I realize that 10% extra was a preview of the next book from the same author. That doesn't happen with paper books.
No, this happens with physical books too. I definitely have been fooled by a nice stack of pages left that were actually a sneak peek or something.
However, I have never had a physical book remember where I left off, such that when my partner checks out the same book using our shared Libby account, it starts them on said sneak preview and they don’t realize, and so start talking to me about story points I don’t remember at all, and then half an hour later go, “Where’s the rest of the book??”
Anyway, that’s the only problem Kindle has ever given me.
posted by brook horse at 8:28 AM on December 21, 2020 [4 favorites]
No, this happens with physical books too. I definitely have been fooled by a nice stack of pages left that were actually a sneak peek or something.
However, I have never had a physical book remember where I left off, such that when my partner checks out the same book using our shared Libby account, it starts them on said sneak preview and they don’t realize, and so start talking to me about story points I don’t remember at all, and then half an hour later go, “Where’s the rest of the book??”
Anyway, that’s the only problem Kindle has ever given me.
posted by brook horse at 8:28 AM on December 21, 2020 [4 favorites]
> I'm not sure that e-readers really need an apologist in the year of our lord 2020
Yeah -- I'm not seeing any great new insights, here. E-readers are really convenient and Kindles are the ones most people know, got it. The anti-e-reader or anti-Amazon people I know are not going to be converted by this.
posted by The corpse in the library at 8:29 AM on December 21, 2020
Yeah -- I'm not seeing any great new insights, here. E-readers are really convenient and Kindles are the ones most people know, got it. The anti-e-reader or anti-Amazon people I know are not going to be converted by this.
posted by The corpse in the library at 8:29 AM on December 21, 2020
I have a very love-hate thing with Kindle because of Amazon, but the Paperwhite is a great little ereader and without the Amazon infrastructure it would be far less useful. Sorta stuck there unless I want to go back to piracy.
About all I can read on it is fluff though - for most academic work, poetry, science it's a non-starter. Basically anything where the layout of the page might matter. Also the vast majority of academic monographs still aren't available on Kindle, so if you're even academic-adjacent it's not great for work.
I agree that the built-in dictionary is great and I love reading Spanish YA on Kindle (not because I particularly care for YA but because that's about the top of my reading level in Spanish).
posted by aspersioncast at 8:31 AM on December 21, 2020 [2 favorites]
About all I can read on it is fluff though - for most academic work, poetry, science it's a non-starter. Basically anything where the layout of the page might matter. Also the vast majority of academic monographs still aren't available on Kindle, so if you're even academic-adjacent it's not great for work.
I agree that the built-in dictionary is great and I love reading Spanish YA on Kindle (not because I particularly care for YA but because that's about the top of my reading level in Spanish).
posted by aspersioncast at 8:31 AM on December 21, 2020 [2 favorites]
I'm a dead tree guy, but even more than that I'm a "to each their own" guy and don't understand why anyone would want to attempt to score points or "win" an argument about what the best way to read a book is.
posted by The Card Cheat at 8:34 AM on December 21, 2020 [6 favorites]
posted by The Card Cheat at 8:34 AM on December 21, 2020 [6 favorites]
I definitely like the format and feel of the Kindle, but I like paper books just about as well. I read almost exclusively from the library, and my understanding is the contracts libraries have on electronic books are not super kind to them, so I try to stick with paper books.
posted by obfuscation at 8:37 AM on December 21, 2020
posted by obfuscation at 8:37 AM on December 21, 2020
I do most of my reading on my Kindle Paperwhite but I definitely feel guilty about it. The technology is fantastic but the business/politics of it is a nightmare. Renting all my books from a mega-corporation that could delete or censor much of my book collection on a whim or a bug is a problem. But the convenience got to me like everyone else.
posted by TheophileEscargot at 8:38 AM on December 21, 2020 [4 favorites]
posted by TheophileEscargot at 8:38 AM on December 21, 2020 [4 favorites]
I don't want to be locked in to the Amazon ecosystem any more than I already am. I love my Kobo e-reader, my third or fourth non-Kindle e-ink device. I love it so much I'm looking for a wedding ring for it. I get library books easily, and I can buy trade books from a variety of on-line retailers.
posted by PhineasGage at 8:39 AM on December 21, 2020 [9 favorites]
posted by PhineasGage at 8:39 AM on December 21, 2020 [9 favorites]
As someone with terrible vision, the ability to adjust font size is a blessing.
posted by LindsayIrene at 8:40 AM on December 21, 2020 [28 favorites]
posted by LindsayIrene at 8:40 AM on December 21, 2020 [28 favorites]
A small gripe. Sometimes I am reading a suspenseful book and my Kindle tells me I have 10% left and then the book suddenly ends and I realize that 10% extra was a preview of the next book from the same author. That doesn't happen with paper books.
One of the first books I read on kindle was nonfiction, and I still remember my incredible confusion when the book ended at 65%. The rest of the text consisted of footnotes!
Ebooks are also wonderful for long articles. I have a couple of physical magazine subscriptions that have turned out to be a waste; reading is so much better when I can change the page with the tap of a finger, enlarge text when necessary, change lighting, and use a machine to search.
posted by grandiloquiet at 8:44 AM on December 21, 2020 [7 favorites]
One of the first books I read on kindle was nonfiction, and I still remember my incredible confusion when the book ended at 65%. The rest of the text consisted of footnotes!
Ebooks are also wonderful for long articles. I have a couple of physical magazine subscriptions that have turned out to be a waste; reading is so much better when I can change the page with the tap of a finger, enlarge text when necessary, change lighting, and use a machine to search.
posted by grandiloquiet at 8:44 AM on December 21, 2020 [7 favorites]
Years ago, I owned a bookstore, after working in bookstores, after always being a reader and bibliophile. Reading so much on the web has affected my ability to settle down with a book, and e-reading is helping me get it back. A friend is now sight-impaired and reads audiobooks. The audiobook experience seems somewhat different, uses different parts of the brain, but she experiences it as very similar to reading a paper or e-book.
I do like having physical copies of books. I can't imagine not having books all over the house. Bookstores are a delight; when I took a Road Trip, I went to lots of small-town bookstores and they are just fantastic, to the point that I can imagine moving to a small town and opening one, with a cafe. Bookstores as a lifestyle are even better than you imagine.
I mostly get library books; my libraries use the horrid Adobe Cloud reader, and managing the flow of want-to-read books is a drag. Not buying many books during Pandemic has been a good thing. I have ebooks from play, kindle, Internet archive, publishers, pdfs, etc.,
and a central repository would be preferable.
Kids' books on a small screen, not so much.
Lavishly illustrated books, not really.
Paper works better in the bath.
Susan Orlean is a fantastic writer and resource; read her work.
posted by theora55 at 8:48 AM on December 21, 2020 [5 favorites]
I do like having physical copies of books. I can't imagine not having books all over the house. Bookstores are a delight; when I took a Road Trip, I went to lots of small-town bookstores and they are just fantastic, to the point that I can imagine moving to a small town and opening one, with a cafe. Bookstores as a lifestyle are even better than you imagine.
I mostly get library books; my libraries use the horrid Adobe Cloud reader, and managing the flow of want-to-read books is a drag. Not buying many books during Pandemic has been a good thing. I have ebooks from play, kindle, Internet archive, publishers, pdfs, etc.,
and a central repository would be preferable.
Kids' books on a small screen, not so much.
Lavishly illustrated books, not really.
Paper works better in the bath.
Susan Orlean is a fantastic writer and resource; read her work.
posted by theora55 at 8:48 AM on December 21, 2020 [5 favorites]
i mean, i legit feel a bit of shame about how much of my novel-reading happens on the kindle, solely because amazon really is the worrrrst and because it’s a good idea to disentangle one’s life from them until such time as hypothetical marxist goons can nationalize them or whatever.
my current coping strategy — given that i’m not going to go out and buy a non-amazon ereader — is to get as much as i can via libraries, and as much as i can’t get via libraries via piracy instead. buying something from actual amazon is best understood as a fallback, even if it’s a fallback i rely on entirely too often.
posted by Reclusive Novelist Thomas Pynchon at 8:50 AM on December 21, 2020 [2 favorites]
my current coping strategy — given that i’m not going to go out and buy a non-amazon ereader — is to get as much as i can via libraries, and as much as i can’t get via libraries via piracy instead. buying something from actual amazon is best understood as a fallback, even if it’s a fallback i rely on entirely too often.
posted by Reclusive Novelist Thomas Pynchon at 8:50 AM on December 21, 2020 [2 favorites]
Honestly, what got me into ebooks was that it was finally conceivable to find and afford err pirate really obscure books that were difficult to find print copies of, or the print copies are obscenely expensive.
There used to be a massive compilation of Critical Theory ebooks at aaaaarg.fail, I know it's not quite the same as it used to be tho.
I still mostly buy physical books and turn to ebooks when difficulty to find and affordability come into play.
I just, I couldn't read books without being able to make notes in the margins and highlighting passages and leaving sticky notes all through it to easily locate the highlighted passages. ebooks have some of these features, but not in the same comforting physical way.
posted by deadaluspark at 8:54 AM on December 21, 2020
There used to be a massive compilation of Critical Theory ebooks at aaaaarg.fail, I know it's not quite the same as it used to be tho.
I still mostly buy physical books and turn to ebooks when difficulty to find and affordability come into play.
I just, I couldn't read books without being able to make notes in the margins and highlighting passages and leaving sticky notes all through it to easily locate the highlighted passages. ebooks have some of these features, but not in the same comforting physical way.
posted by deadaluspark at 8:54 AM on December 21, 2020
People who like having physical books have much bigger apartments than me.
posted by srboisvert at 8:58 AM on December 21, 2020 [2 favorites]
posted by srboisvert at 8:58 AM on December 21, 2020 [2 favorites]
No, we just don't own a lot of physical items other than books. My place is mostly shelves, books, a bed, a desk, and a computer.
posted by deadaluspark at 8:59 AM on December 21, 2020 [2 favorites]
posted by deadaluspark at 8:59 AM on December 21, 2020 [2 favorites]
I do the vast majority of reading via Kindle, although the Kindle app on my OLED smartphone or OLED tablet instead of an actual Kindle reader. I prefer the true black background and white text for late-night reading instead of the disruptive glow and poor contrast ratio of the Kindle reader. It's similar to Orlean's reasoning, but a little different.
Also like Orlean, it makes me much more open to reading things I wouldn't otherwise try, but I also get through books much more quickly and understand them better.
And as someone who moves quite a lot, it is so nice not having to move hundreds of books every year or so.
posted by Ouverture at 9:06 AM on December 21, 2020 [1 favorite]
Also like Orlean, it makes me much more open to reading things I wouldn't otherwise try, but I also get through books much more quickly and understand them better.
And as someone who moves quite a lot, it is so nice not having to move hundreds of books every year or so.
posted by Ouverture at 9:06 AM on December 21, 2020 [1 favorite]
Yeah you don't have to buy into Amazon. I have a nook now and will probably get a Kobo next, unless Barnes & Noble starts stepping up their e-reader game under their new management. E-books have been wonderful for me. As someone mentioned above, the free samples have saved me from buying tons of books I won't actually read. And so many books are available that would otherwise have become scarce or gone out of print. If I want a book from the 70s or 80s that is not available electronically, that's the exception, which is mind-blowing to me.
Sure, you lose something. I love dropping off books at a nearby Little Free Library and checking in later to see which ones have been taken. I've had a lot of friends and co-workers over the years who passed physical books around, or left them in laundry rooms or other public spaces. After my mom's death, a book I'd passed to her (The Chimney-Sweeper's Boy by Ruth Rendell) came back to me with a note: "This was one of your mother's favorites."
Working in bookstores, I feel as if younger people, middle grades and teens, use electronic books less than anyone. They love and celebrate physical books. It's the older people, who are traveling and downsizing and having issues with their vision, who have bought heavily into e-books. But this is all observational and to do with customers having a lot of disposable income. I think a LOT of YA books are dubiously downloaded.
posted by BibiRose at 9:08 AM on December 21, 2020 [7 favorites]
Sure, you lose something. I love dropping off books at a nearby Little Free Library and checking in later to see which ones have been taken. I've had a lot of friends and co-workers over the years who passed physical books around, or left them in laundry rooms or other public spaces. After my mom's death, a book I'd passed to her (The Chimney-Sweeper's Boy by Ruth Rendell) came back to me with a note: "This was one of your mother's favorites."
Working in bookstores, I feel as if younger people, middle grades and teens, use electronic books less than anyone. They love and celebrate physical books. It's the older people, who are traveling and downsizing and having issues with their vision, who have bought heavily into e-books. But this is all observational and to do with customers having a lot of disposable income. I think a LOT of YA books are dubiously downloaded.
posted by BibiRose at 9:08 AM on December 21, 2020 [7 favorites]
I use the kindle app on my phone. The screen is small, but that is outweighed by the pluses. It comes with backlight which my original kindle didn't have. It has COMFORTABLE one-hand-hold-ability due to kickstand on phone case. I can TURN PAGES WITH THE HAND HOLDING THE DEVICE. I now always have books with me. I can make the screen brighter and darker (at night regular bright is too brigh) to suit where I'm reading.
Recently I signed up for KU, two month trial period, which feels like betting Amazon that I can read more than about four middling-grade genre fiction novels a month. Hah. Joke's on you, Amazon. I can read that many in a week, without skimping on work, sleep, daily activities, or outdoors time. (Yes, I know they make money either way.)
And wow, it's a mixed bag of slush out there in KU land. Some are pretty good. Others... yeowch. Some of the Kindle Unlimited is... not delightful. I probably need to do better at putting down books that don't work for me and chalk the fails up to "Well, they're free-ish".
posted by which_chick at 9:11 AM on December 21, 2020
Recently I signed up for KU, two month trial period, which feels like betting Amazon that I can read more than about four middling-grade genre fiction novels a month. Hah. Joke's on you, Amazon. I can read that many in a week, without skimping on work, sleep, daily activities, or outdoors time. (Yes, I know they make money either way.)
And wow, it's a mixed bag of slush out there in KU land. Some are pretty good. Others... yeowch. Some of the Kindle Unlimited is... not delightful. I probably need to do better at putting down books that don't work for me and chalk the fails up to "Well, they're free-ish".
posted by which_chick at 9:11 AM on December 21, 2020
My eyes have been getting worse over the past two years (I need some eye surgery, which I've put on hold until post-vaccination), and so I've mostly been reading books mostly on my phone since I can easily adjust the font size. And I have to say, it's been great.
The place where it falls down is on PDF books I have, mostly table top RPGs. For those, I turned an old chromebook into a Table-let (a 21.5" touchscreen that sits on a table stand).
posted by fings at 9:12 AM on December 21, 2020 [3 favorites]
The place where it falls down is on PDF books I have, mostly table top RPGs. For those, I turned an old chromebook into a Table-let (a 21.5" touchscreen that sits on a table stand).
posted by fings at 9:12 AM on December 21, 2020 [3 favorites]
+1 on Verso Books. Their eBooks are DRM-free and in a whole bunch of useful formats. If more publishers did this, I would absolutely buy more books.
I used to do all my reading on a Kindle Paperwhite but these days I've moved to Apple Books since I'm trying to wind down my Amazon spend. I find the Apple Books reading experience to be the very best of the lot, and while my iPad is heavier than the Kindle, the display is great and I like not having to juggle multiple devices.
posted by adrianhon at 9:13 AM on December 21, 2020
I used to do all my reading on a Kindle Paperwhite but these days I've moved to Apple Books since I'm trying to wind down my Amazon spend. I find the Apple Books reading experience to be the very best of the lot, and while my iPad is heavier than the Kindle, the display is great and I like not having to juggle multiple devices.
posted by adrianhon at 9:13 AM on December 21, 2020
my current coping strategy — given that i’m not going to go out and buy a non-amazon ereader — is to get as much as i can via libraries, and as much as i can’t get via libraries via piracy instead. buying something from actual amazon is best understood as a fallback, even if it’s a fallback i rely on entirely too often.
As an author, may I respectfully ask that you change your strategy? I am deeply unhappy with Amazon's role in my industry, but just in terms of percentage of income, the royalties that authors lose from piracy dwarfs any hit to Amazon.
I'm not quite sure why you rule out getting a non-Amazon ereader. But assuming that's truly impossible, perhaps every time you buy through Amazon, you could assuage your conscience by giving some portion of your purchase price to a workers' rights organization.
If you simply can't countenance giving one extra penny to Amazon, then at least add up what you would have spent on all the books you pirated, and donate that money to PEN or some other organization that helps defend the rights of writers.
I can't believe I'm having this discussion with Reclusive Novelist Thomas Pynchon!
posted by yankeefog at 9:18 AM on December 21, 2020 [20 favorites]
As an author, may I respectfully ask that you change your strategy? I am deeply unhappy with Amazon's role in my industry, but just in terms of percentage of income, the royalties that authors lose from piracy dwarfs any hit to Amazon.
I'm not quite sure why you rule out getting a non-Amazon ereader. But assuming that's truly impossible, perhaps every time you buy through Amazon, you could assuage your conscience by giving some portion of your purchase price to a workers' rights organization.
If you simply can't countenance giving one extra penny to Amazon, then at least add up what you would have spent on all the books you pirated, and donate that money to PEN or some other organization that helps defend the rights of writers.
I can't believe I'm having this discussion with Reclusive Novelist Thomas Pynchon!
posted by yankeefog at 9:18 AM on December 21, 2020 [20 favorites]
I’ve talked about this elsewhere but my switch to an ereader however many years back now fundamentally changed reading for me. I already was a regular reader, reading one fiction and one nonfiction at any given time, but I hated lugging two books everywhere, especially if they were both hardcover, and I couldn’t read on public transit because I’d get nauseated. That latter turned out to be because paper books aren’t a flat plane that moves as one visual element; with my ereader (I started on Kindle but switched to Kobo a couple years ago) the combination of being able to carry around current reads and to-reads, in my pocket no less, and being able to read when on the bus, and being able to read sample chapters…I read more books and read more variety, with the bonus that apartment clutter dropped precipitously once I was able to just get rid of all my paper books.
posted by bixfrankonis at 9:24 AM on December 21, 2020 [4 favorites]
posted by bixfrankonis at 9:24 AM on December 21, 2020 [4 favorites]
I've had a Kindle since 2015 and have loved it since then (particularly for commuting on the NYC Subway -- a lot easier to hold when you are pressed up against the passenger next to you remember that?). When I started upping my reading in foreign languages it was also a godsend because of the ability to look up unknown words in a bilingual dictionary.
Ironically, though, from this summer onward I've actually shifted a lot more heavily to reading physical books. The large majority of the books I read (80-90%) come from the public library in either physical or electronic form; and I have found that for nearly any relatively new release that I'm interested in, especially fiction, that there have been much longer waits for the electronic copies than for the print copies.
For example (having whimsically gotten into a bit of a space theme recently) I just requested Jo Marchant's The Human Cosmos and Christopher Paolini's To Sleep in a Sea of Stars last week and they are both now already in transit -- on Overdrive they are clocking an estimated 10 to 11 week wait.
For me I think it's a combination of (1) my commuting and traveling has dropped sharply, so the Kindle portability benefit is much less important than before, (2) other library patrons may not feel comfortable/be able to get books in person so have a larger need for e-books, whereas I can do both*, (3) I'm still WFH full time so I can pop out to the local branch at basically any time*, and (4) I continue to be as impatient for new releases as ever before.
*just to be clear, I'm of course always masked, observe the library's "1 patron at a time" rule, try to have the mobile app checkout ready to get in/out fast and don't linger inside. There's no browsing here and the way things are going I can't imagine that will be back any time soon. I honestly still feel lucky that the libraries are open at all!
posted by andrewesque at 9:27 AM on December 21, 2020
Ironically, though, from this summer onward I've actually shifted a lot more heavily to reading physical books. The large majority of the books I read (80-90%) come from the public library in either physical or electronic form; and I have found that for nearly any relatively new release that I'm interested in, especially fiction, that there have been much longer waits for the electronic copies than for the print copies.
For example (having whimsically gotten into a bit of a space theme recently) I just requested Jo Marchant's The Human Cosmos and Christopher Paolini's To Sleep in a Sea of Stars last week and they are both now already in transit -- on Overdrive they are clocking an estimated 10 to 11 week wait.
For me I think it's a combination of (1) my commuting and traveling has dropped sharply, so the Kindle portability benefit is much less important than before, (2) other library patrons may not feel comfortable/be able to get books in person so have a larger need for e-books, whereas I can do both*, (3) I'm still WFH full time so I can pop out to the local branch at basically any time*, and (4) I continue to be as impatient for new releases as ever before.
*just to be clear, I'm of course always masked, observe the library's "1 patron at a time" rule, try to have the mobile app checkout ready to get in/out fast and don't linger inside. There's no browsing here and the way things are going I can't imagine that will be back any time soon. I honestly still feel lucky that the libraries are open at all!
posted by andrewesque at 9:27 AM on December 21, 2020
As a reader, I love e-books, and I adore my Libby app. I use my kindle app on my phone and I have a Kindle.
As a supporter of authors and writing, I have mixed feelings about Kindle Unlimited and have chosen to buy books one at a time. I really want my money to get to authors even if it sometimes goes through Amazon first. I try to buy at release where possible to drive good writing to the top, especially if I know it's a first-time author.
As a supporter of bookstores, I still buy paper books, especially to leave around for my kids.
Again more as a reader, I did find for a while early in my Kindle life my reading was being driven by the $1.99 specials, but experience with that forced me to learn that it wasn't even as good as the discount book pile at the bookstore, and so I've been more mindful since.
I had a Kobo but it drove me nuts in the end. I will keep my eyes out for an alternative.
posted by warriorqueen at 9:29 AM on December 21, 2020 [3 favorites]
As a supporter of authors and writing, I have mixed feelings about Kindle Unlimited and have chosen to buy books one at a time. I really want my money to get to authors even if it sometimes goes through Amazon first. I try to buy at release where possible to drive good writing to the top, especially if I know it's a first-time author.
As a supporter of bookstores, I still buy paper books, especially to leave around for my kids.
Again more as a reader, I did find for a while early in my Kindle life my reading was being driven by the $1.99 specials, but experience with that forced me to learn that it wasn't even as good as the discount book pile at the bookstore, and so I've been more mindful since.
I had a Kobo but it drove me nuts in the end. I will keep my eyes out for an alternative.
posted by warriorqueen at 9:29 AM on December 21, 2020 [3 favorites]
I love my e-reader, but I wish publishers’ standards for ebook typesetting and proof-reading were closer to their standards for printed books. It’s especially disappointing to pay full price for a book and find it absolutely full of typos and missing paragraph breaks, presumably because it was a botched OCR job that they didn’t even bother editing before release.
I hope this is no longer common in new books, since publishers have now had plenty of time to integrate ebooks into their production process, but I see a lot of it in digital editions of books from 2010 or earlier.
posted by mbrubeck at 9:31 AM on December 21, 2020 [11 favorites]
I hope this is no longer common in new books, since publishers have now had plenty of time to integrate ebooks into their production process, but I see a lot of it in digital editions of books from 2010 or earlier.
posted by mbrubeck at 9:31 AM on December 21, 2020 [11 favorites]
I've been a phone-only reader for years. I'm a working mom and it's been life-changing to be able to read in bite size chunks wherever I am without needing to carry a book around with me. My husband laughed the other day when he saw me turn the page with my elbow while flossing and it took me a minute to even register that I don't often see other people using an elbow to navigate a touchscreen.
posted by potrzebie at 9:37 AM on December 21, 2020 [4 favorites]
posted by potrzebie at 9:37 AM on December 21, 2020 [4 favorites]
When I tried out an e-reader, I assumed one of the big benefits would be finding passages in my library would become easy because it's all electronic. That turned our to be wrong; the search isn't great and the physical memory of the passage and flipping through pages is still faster.
On the other hand, finishing a book at 6:30 PM and buying another book so I can start reading that evening is pretty cool. I have trouble remembering why the inability to do this didn't bother me?
posted by mark k at 9:39 AM on December 21, 2020 [3 favorites]
On the other hand, finishing a book at 6:30 PM and buying another book so I can start reading that evening is pretty cool. I have trouble remembering why the inability to do this didn't bother me?
posted by mark k at 9:39 AM on December 21, 2020 [3 favorites]
I'm very pro-eBooks for recreational reading; in fact, I tend to be more adventurous with what I'll purchase, as I don't have the physical book to cart off later if it's something I dislike or just wouldn't normally keep. Plus, as everyone else has said, they're much better for travel.
For my day job, they're more problematic. Academic press eBooks can be extraordinarily expensive, meaning that it's often cheaper to just purchase the book secondhand. (No, I'm not going to blow $100 on a book that I will, technically, not own.) Many electronic monographs still don't have page numbers, and not every journal is willing to accept loc. cit. as an appropriate source. And eBooks are extraordinarily difficult to teach with, not only because it's difficult to move around in them quickly when you need to develop a point or answer a question, but also because (again) there's frequently no pagination and your students will see "different" pages depending on the size of their reader.
posted by thomas j wise at 9:41 AM on December 21, 2020 [2 favorites]
For my day job, they're more problematic. Academic press eBooks can be extraordinarily expensive, meaning that it's often cheaper to just purchase the book secondhand. (No, I'm not going to blow $100 on a book that I will, technically, not own.) Many electronic monographs still don't have page numbers, and not every journal is willing to accept loc. cit. as an appropriate source. And eBooks are extraordinarily difficult to teach with, not only because it's difficult to move around in them quickly when you need to develop a point or answer a question, but also because (again) there's frequently no pagination and your students will see "different" pages depending on the size of their reader.
posted by thomas j wise at 9:41 AM on December 21, 2020 [2 favorites]
Libraries were the big turning point for me, especially after I found out that public libraries in Ohio must make cards available to all residents in the state. (This might be true everywhere, but I'm not a resident everywhere.) Now I have six library cards on Libby and can find pretty much anything I want. As a result the amount I read has skyrocketed in the last few years.
posted by slogger at 9:42 AM on December 21, 2020 [4 favorites]
posted by slogger at 9:42 AM on December 21, 2020 [4 favorites]
I resisted ebooks for a long time. One of my objections was that you had no physical artifact -- just an electronic file. Then one day when I was trying to find room for yet more books, I had an epiphany. The lack of a physical object could be seen as a positive and not a negative. I still buy a lot of books, but I've probably switched to about 50% ebooks. I also try more things that are outside my typical reading because it's so easy to download a new book on the Kindle.
posted by maurice at 9:43 AM on December 21, 2020 [3 favorites]
posted by maurice at 9:43 AM on December 21, 2020 [3 favorites]
I have found that reading things on glowing screens reduces the specific experience of a thing, which means that reading a novel becomes like reading philosophy which is like reading a magazine which is like reading a blog post which is like reading twitter. Someone above wants to put audiobooks into the same "content" chum bucket. Maybe its fine that there's only one kind of thing anymore, content. There used to be different tv channels and a strong distinction between movies and tv that offered a distinct experience and now there is video content that you get on your device; there used to be physical music media that offered a different experience and now there is audio content that you access with your device. I've made my peace with those things, though I expect that people will still buy records and still go out to the movies. But fundamentally I already spend too much time staring at screens for work and pleasure. I'm a person in the world and I like to maintain being a person in the world who interacts with physical objects in the world. That's where my "real" life is, all of this other stuff is supposed to accent it, not *be* it. If I'm an old crank at 38, so be it.
posted by Kwine at 9:46 AM on December 21, 2020 [3 favorites]
posted by Kwine at 9:46 AM on December 21, 2020 [3 favorites]
Academic press eBooks can be extraordinarily expensive, meaning that it's often cheaper to just purchase the book secondhand.
Thanks for saying that. It was a question I was thinking of asking, but you've saved me the effort. I'd like to switch to ebooks and loose some of the book bulk I have to deal with every time I move, something that's still irksome even though I've dumped many box loads over the years and try not to collect too many more. Literally half the reason I live in a college town is to have a good used book store, with academic books I can afford. If I could get that with ebooks, and not from amazon, I'd switch over without hesitation.
posted by gusottertrout at 9:51 AM on December 21, 2020 [2 favorites]
Thanks for saying that. It was a question I was thinking of asking, but you've saved me the effort. I'd like to switch to ebooks and loose some of the book bulk I have to deal with every time I move, something that's still irksome even though I've dumped many box loads over the years and try not to collect too many more. Literally half the reason I live in a college town is to have a good used book store, with academic books I can afford. If I could get that with ebooks, and not from amazon, I'd switch over without hesitation.
posted by gusottertrout at 9:51 AM on December 21, 2020 [2 favorites]
The lack of a physical object could be seen as a positive and not a negative.
I am now down to 14 full-height Billy bookcases thanks to e-readers. My husband and I could have saved a lot of money on rent/mortgage/heat/etc. in our early marriage had we not been seeking enough wall space for our books, even with paperbacks double-shelved.
Ditto tapes, both audio and video, Cds, and DVDs.
Now I have to admit that even though yeah, I worry a bit about the books getting obsolete or DRM'd out of existence or whatever, it is a huge relief to not always be dealing with that. My kids' collections are still largely on paper but my oldest is now starting his own e-book library curation and I think his experience of moving/mobility and space will be radically different.
posted by warriorqueen at 9:53 AM on December 21, 2020 [3 favorites]
I am now down to 14 full-height Billy bookcases thanks to e-readers. My husband and I could have saved a lot of money on rent/mortgage/heat/etc. in our early marriage had we not been seeking enough wall space for our books, even with paperbacks double-shelved.
Ditto tapes, both audio and video, Cds, and DVDs.
Now I have to admit that even though yeah, I worry a bit about the books getting obsolete or DRM'd out of existence or whatever, it is a huge relief to not always be dealing with that. My kids' collections are still largely on paper but my oldest is now starting his own e-book library curation and I think his experience of moving/mobility and space will be radically different.
posted by warriorqueen at 9:53 AM on December 21, 2020 [3 favorites]
I switched to the kindle mostly because I regularly checked out books from the library and didn’t want to take those in the pool. The big plus for me is being able to read in the sun, so definitely an e-ink user more than a tablet or phone. I only use it for library books though. I would never buy one, like james33 said, what are you even buying? Especially after that fiasco with 1984 a few years back I only buy physical because then no one can take it back from me.
Now that I live overseas in a non-English speaking country, my family have all joined their local libraries and I have access to so many options with my kindle now!
posted by LizBoBiz at 9:55 AM on December 21, 2020 [1 favorite]
Now that I live overseas in a non-English speaking country, my family have all joined their local libraries and I have access to so many options with my kindle now!
posted by LizBoBiz at 9:55 AM on December 21, 2020 [1 favorite]
Metafilter: skipping gleefully though the woodlands like a fucking dryad.
posted by medusa at 10:01 AM on December 21, 2020 [4 favorites]
posted by medusa at 10:01 AM on December 21, 2020 [4 favorites]
So, “person whose job involves reading lots of text confesses that a device that makes it easy to obtain and read an enormous amount of text is good” is sort of uninteresting, but this sentence from upthread:
“...the venn diagram of people who would scorn you for choosing ebook format over paper book format is an overlapping circle with people who would scorn you for taking antidepressants instead of skipping gleefully though the woodlands like a fucking dryad.
... is a magnificent, beautiful thing.
posted by mhoye at 10:01 AM on December 21, 2020 [3 favorites]
“...the venn diagram of people who would scorn you for choosing ebook format over paper book format is an overlapping circle with people who would scorn you for taking antidepressants instead of skipping gleefully though the woodlands like a fucking dryad.
... is a magnificent, beautiful thing.
posted by mhoye at 10:01 AM on December 21, 2020 [3 favorites]
The ability to adjust the font size & type is a total game-changer for a lot of folks, especially those of us with old eyes. ANY book can be large-print now, not just the ones the publishers decide to issue for you.
posted by Mary Ellen Carter at 10:03 AM on December 21, 2020 [13 favorites]
posted by Mary Ellen Carter at 10:03 AM on December 21, 2020 [13 favorites]
(not a e-book person. why is this so: "Flipping back and forth through pages is a huge downside to Kindle reading.")
posted by j_curiouser at 10:03 AM on December 21, 2020
posted by j_curiouser at 10:03 AM on December 21, 2020
I rarely buy e-books because I'm a cheapskate who lives in an area a great library system, but I do buy Kindle books sometimes. As far as what I get when I'm buying: access to a book either faster than my library can get me through the wait list, or for a longer time than the library will let me keep it. Yeah, I might not be able to read it decades from now, but honestly I don't have access to most of my physical books for decades either: my beloved Dorothy Sayers paperbacks fall apart if I turn a page, and the type is too small for my aging eyes in a lot of my other older books.
If I were someone who bought hardbacks, or who had better eyesight, I might care more about the longevity of my Kindle books. But I'm not and I don't and so I don't. I might outlive my books and that's fine.
posted by The corpse in the library at 10:05 AM on December 21, 2020
If I were someone who bought hardbacks, or who had better eyesight, I might care more about the longevity of my Kindle books. But I'm not and I don't and so I don't. I might outlive my books and that's fine.
posted by The corpse in the library at 10:05 AM on December 21, 2020
I’ve had kindles since the first gen. What’s kind of weird is I think I prefer the old pop out light integrated into the case compared to the paperwhite screen for night reading. I don’t know if it was the color, it was less bright, the uneven lighting, or what but I liked it more. Also, on some of them the minimum brightness was higher than I would have liked. I have an oasis with the warm light now and that is better. I also really like the switch back to one handed operation and physical buttons over the touch screen. The current gen oases are just a little too big to put into a pocket, but I guess people weren’t a fan of the detachable battery case of the first gen.
posted by TheJoven at 10:17 AM on December 21, 2020
posted by TheJoven at 10:17 AM on December 21, 2020
I have a Kobo and the biggest thing I like about it is that the one I have is waterproof, so I can read it in the bathtub. For me, it is a supreme indulgence to kick back in a tub of hot water and just read without worrying about anything.
posted by Quonab at 10:18 AM on December 21, 2020 [3 favorites]
posted by Quonab at 10:18 AM on December 21, 2020 [3 favorites]
E-readers have their conveniences and I definitely use them for various things, but I'm puzzled at something not being mentioned...don't you guys mark up what you're reading? E-readers are terrible for that. Now that iOS has Scribble, which seems to work okay in the Kindle app, it may be less of a problem, but it's still a problem.
posted by praemunire at 10:26 AM on December 21, 2020
posted by praemunire at 10:26 AM on December 21, 2020
I marked up stuff all the time on my Kindle and now in Apple Books. The markups synced to their respective Mac apps and in the case of the Kindle, Goodreads, which made it exceedingly easy for me to copy-and-paste for research purposes.
posted by adrianhon at 10:30 AM on December 21, 2020 [2 favorites]
posted by adrianhon at 10:30 AM on December 21, 2020 [2 favorites]
Wait, no, seriously, before Scribble, did you actually type in your marginal notes?
posted by praemunire at 10:31 AM on December 21, 2020
posted by praemunire at 10:31 AM on December 21, 2020
I can type faster than I can write, even on a touchscreen, so... yeah?
posted by adrianhon at 10:33 AM on December 21, 2020 [2 favorites]
posted by adrianhon at 10:33 AM on December 21, 2020 [2 favorites]
(not a e-book person. why is this so: "Flipping back and forth through pages is a huge downside to Kindle reading.")
My experience is that when dealing with a physical book, there's a kind of muscle memory as far as where a particular bit of text is. There are books on my shelves that I haven't read in years, but if you handed one to me and said "find the first disastrous dinner party scene" I'd be able to flip to it in under five seconds.
With an ebook it's either a matter of searching for a remembered snippet or tapping back (or forward) through thumbnails. It's a much less immediate and connected feeling.
Wait, no, seriously, before Scribble, did you actually type in your marginal notes?
I do. But the keyboard on the Kindle is so painfully bad, I'll usually put the Kindle down and use my phone to add notes.
I grew up with a parent who collected first editions and rare books and was extremely particular about how a book should be handled (did you wash your hands before you picked that up?!), so being able to make marginal notes without feeling like I was vandalizing something precious has been a revelation for me.
posted by Lexica at 10:35 AM on December 21, 2020 [10 favorites]
My experience is that when dealing with a physical book, there's a kind of muscle memory as far as where a particular bit of text is. There are books on my shelves that I haven't read in years, but if you handed one to me and said "find the first disastrous dinner party scene" I'd be able to flip to it in under five seconds.
With an ebook it's either a matter of searching for a remembered snippet or tapping back (or forward) through thumbnails. It's a much less immediate and connected feeling.
Wait, no, seriously, before Scribble, did you actually type in your marginal notes?
I do. But the keyboard on the Kindle is so painfully bad, I'll usually put the Kindle down and use my phone to add notes.
I grew up with a parent who collected first editions and rare books and was extremely particular about how a book should be handled (did you wash your hands before you picked that up?!), so being able to make marginal notes without feeling like I was vandalizing something precious has been a revelation for me.
posted by Lexica at 10:35 AM on December 21, 2020 [10 favorites]
don't you guys mark up what you're reading?I highlight but I don’t make notes. Highlighting works fine on Kindle and Kobo, except for the fact that Kobo has neither a central location for all your highlights nor web access for ones highlights. Kindle wins over Kobo for this.
posted by bixfrankonis at 10:35 AM on December 21, 2020 [1 favorite]
why is this so: "Flipping back and forth through pages is a huge downside to Kindle reading."
The Kindle I have doesn’t have any controls like sliders - it will tell me I am 91% done, but it doesn’t show me, and there isn’t a line-with-a-dot I can drag along to where I remember reading something. So there’s even less non-text heuristic for jumping back and forth than on, say, the IPhone books app, which does have the line-with-a-dot. Even the line-with-a-dot interface is less unconscious than the enormous amount of detail that can re-find text in a physical book.
Fiddling around, I bet the kindle has low-resolution touch sensitivity, that would explain other mild annoyances.
posted by clew at 10:37 AM on December 21, 2020
The Kindle I have doesn’t have any controls like sliders - it will tell me I am 91% done, but it doesn’t show me, and there isn’t a line-with-a-dot I can drag along to where I remember reading something. So there’s even less non-text heuristic for jumping back and forth than on, say, the IPhone books app, which does have the line-with-a-dot. Even the line-with-a-dot interface is less unconscious than the enormous amount of detail that can re-find text in a physical book.
Fiddling around, I bet the kindle has low-resolution touch sensitivity, that would explain other mild annoyances.
posted by clew at 10:37 AM on December 21, 2020
(not a e-book person. why is this so: "Flipping back and forth through pages is a huge downside to Kindle reading.")
Both the physical action and (on e-ink devices) the latency makes "flipping" difficult. You typically can move forwards or backwards one page at a time even on LCD-based readers, and on an e-ink device the refresh of a new screen takes about a second, which compared to the tactile sensation of just running your finger back, say, five or ten pages is clumsy and slow. Maybe some devices have better control-responsiveness, some slider you can freely zip back and forth with, but even there you wouldn't get quite the physical feedback of thumbing through a book.
posted by jackbishop at 10:41 AM on December 21, 2020 [1 favorite]
Both the physical action and (on e-ink devices) the latency makes "flipping" difficult. You typically can move forwards or backwards one page at a time even on LCD-based readers, and on an e-ink device the refresh of a new screen takes about a second, which compared to the tactile sensation of just running your finger back, say, five or ten pages is clumsy and slow. Maybe some devices have better control-responsiveness, some slider you can freely zip back and forth with, but even there you wouldn't get quite the physical feedback of thumbing through a book.
posted by jackbishop at 10:41 AM on December 21, 2020 [1 favorite]
I highlight but I don’t make notes. Highlighting works fine on Kindle and Kobo, except for the fact that Kobo has neither a central location for all your highlights nor web access for ones highlights. Kindle wins over Kobo for this.
posted by bixfrankonis at 12:35 PM on December 21
I have a Kindle not a Kobo, so this may not be useful, but I use Goodreads for this. If the Kobo auto-uploads your highlights, or you can tell it to do so, then you could use Goodreads as well?
posted by joannemerriam at 10:43 AM on December 21, 2020
posted by bixfrankonis at 12:35 PM on December 21
I have a Kindle not a Kobo, so this may not be useful, but I use Goodreads for this. If the Kobo auto-uploads your highlights, or you can tell it to do so, then you could use Goodreads as well?
posted by joannemerriam at 10:43 AM on December 21, 2020
I do. But the keyboard on the Kindle is so painfully bad, I'll usually put the Kindle down and use my phone to add notes.
And here I thought that merely disrupting one's flow to call up the touchscreen keyboard and try to type in something (that you won't even be able to see on the page afterwards unless you tap on it) was too irritating/distracting a process! (I type faster than I write, but not when you factor all that in.)
posted by praemunire at 10:46 AM on December 21, 2020
And here I thought that merely disrupting one's flow to call up the touchscreen keyboard and try to type in something (that you won't even be able to see on the page afterwards unless you tap on it) was too irritating/distracting a process! (I type faster than I write, but not when you factor all that in.)
posted by praemunire at 10:46 AM on December 21, 2020
I grew up with a parent who collected first editions and rare books
I grew up with 80% library books, so I take a joy in being able to mark up my very own physical copies of things.
posted by praemunire at 10:48 AM on December 21, 2020
I grew up with 80% library books, so I take a joy in being able to mark up my very own physical copies of things.
posted by praemunire at 10:48 AM on December 21, 2020
don't you guys mark up what you're reading?
Personally: no. I never mark up books. Scientific papers that I need to study to understand I'll print out and write on, but not books. Even print technical books (which I seldom deal with these days) I prefer to make notes separately, as I remember things better and have the important notes easily accessible.
So for me the e-reader has actually increased my markups, as I will occasionally highlight now.
posted by mark k at 10:52 AM on December 21, 2020 [9 favorites]
Personally: no. I never mark up books. Scientific papers that I need to study to understand I'll print out and write on, but not books. Even print technical books (which I seldom deal with these days) I prefer to make notes separately, as I remember things better and have the important notes easily accessible.
So for me the e-reader has actually increased my markups, as I will occasionally highlight now.
posted by mark k at 10:52 AM on December 21, 2020 [9 favorites]
I’m actually someone who finds the search function of Kindles/e-readers very useful, because for me the typical use case for search is when I’m reading a long novel and a character resurfaces after some time and I can’t remember what their details are or what happened the last time they appeared.
I do actually agree about the point that with a physical book, you have some sense of where broadly speaking an important or memorable scene is. It’s just that for me, when I’m searching for something it’s usually not what I am trying to do — 95% of the time it’s “wait who is this Aeris character again? Am I supposed to remember something? Is this the first time they are appearing in the book?” and that’s the kind of thing a computerized search is good at.
posted by andrewesque at 11:05 AM on December 21, 2020 [4 favorites]
I do actually agree about the point that with a physical book, you have some sense of where broadly speaking an important or memorable scene is. It’s just that for me, when I’m searching for something it’s usually not what I am trying to do — 95% of the time it’s “wait who is this Aeris character again? Am I supposed to remember something? Is this the first time they are appearing in the book?” and that’s the kind of thing a computerized search is good at.
posted by andrewesque at 11:05 AM on December 21, 2020 [4 favorites]
I have a Kindle not a Kobo, so this may not be useful, but I use Goodreads for this.
In case you didn't know, Amazon owns Goodreads (for more than seven years), and just announced they're going to disallow anyone else from touching their (I mean, your) data.
posted by meowzilla at 11:27 AM on December 21, 2020 [4 favorites]
In case you didn't know, Amazon owns Goodreads (for more than seven years), and just announced they're going to disallow anyone else from touching their (I mean, your) data.
posted by meowzilla at 11:27 AM on December 21, 2020 [4 favorites]
My choice of language for easy reading is English, and as I live in a decidedly non english speaking country where there is import duty if and when a package arrives, means that Kindle is my saviour.
There are limitations in that often what I want to read is not found in eformat.
The sample option allows me to explore more so that browsing in a shop which these covid times has made impossible even if I could.
So YaY for Kindle. I am a big fan. The fact that kindle is on my phone is just the icing on this cake.
posted by adamvasco at 11:27 AM on December 21, 2020
There are limitations in that often what I want to read is not found in eformat.
The sample option allows me to explore more so that browsing in a shop which these covid times has made impossible even if I could.
So YaY for Kindle. I am a big fan. The fact that kindle is on my phone is just the icing on this cake.
posted by adamvasco at 11:27 AM on December 21, 2020
I suspect there are a bunch of technical reasons for the current limitations on marking or flipping ebook pages, but I do wish there was an indicator/jump back to current page for when there's a need to do some flipping. Did notice recently that some kindles can be jailbroken but have not seen any popular (well any) mods. I expect the power balance of the very minimal cpus makes anything clever impractical. The e-ink core tech does seem to be in active development.
posted by sammyo at 11:28 AM on December 21, 2020
posted by sammyo at 11:28 AM on December 21, 2020
Ironically, though, from this summer onward I've actually shifted a lot more heavily to reading physical books. The large majority of the books I read (80-90%) come from the public library in either physical or electronic form; and I have found that for nearly any relatively new release that I'm interested in, especially fiction, that there have been much longer waits for the electronic copies than for the print copies.
Yep, this has been the case since way before the pandemic. I highly prefer ebooks but I don't read them as often as I would like, because I almost exclusively read library books. For me, any book I look at on Libby that has a 6 month wait? Almost always has multiple physical copies available at the library right now. And many ebooks have very long waits. "Relatively new" means, like, 2005. But older books can have the problem too (especially if a movie or show based on them comes out--protip, jump on Megan Whalen Turner's The Thief now). Obviously it's just gotten worse with the pandemic, but it's definitely not exclusive to it. I'm always playing games with the hold limit of 10--should I put this 6 month book on so I'll be in line? But if I put all these 6 month books on, then I won't be able to use any holds for 6 months. Okay, let's spread it out, a 2 week wait, a 4 week wait, a couple 8 week waits... etc.
Oh, I did remember one other problem with my Kindle. I can't download the Scribd app to it. Between the library and Scribd, I could probably have enough ebooks covered to not need to resort to the physical library except for books I desperately want to read right now. I dislike reading books on my phone/computer, so I mostly only use Scribd for audiobooks. If I could have the app on my Paperwhite, I'd be reading a whole lot more ebooks. But they'd probably lose money that way. ¯\_(ツ)_/¯
posted by brook horse at 11:34 AM on December 21, 2020 [1 favorite]
Yep, this has been the case since way before the pandemic. I highly prefer ebooks but I don't read them as often as I would like, because I almost exclusively read library books. For me, any book I look at on Libby that has a 6 month wait? Almost always has multiple physical copies available at the library right now. And many ebooks have very long waits. "Relatively new" means, like, 2005. But older books can have the problem too (especially if a movie or show based on them comes out--protip, jump on Megan Whalen Turner's The Thief now). Obviously it's just gotten worse with the pandemic, but it's definitely not exclusive to it. I'm always playing games with the hold limit of 10--should I put this 6 month book on so I'll be in line? But if I put all these 6 month books on, then I won't be able to use any holds for 6 months. Okay, let's spread it out, a 2 week wait, a 4 week wait, a couple 8 week waits... etc.
Oh, I did remember one other problem with my Kindle. I can't download the Scribd app to it. Between the library and Scribd, I could probably have enough ebooks covered to not need to resort to the physical library except for books I desperately want to read right now. I dislike reading books on my phone/computer, so I mostly only use Scribd for audiobooks. If I could have the app on my Paperwhite, I'd be reading a whole lot more ebooks. But they'd probably lose money that way. ¯\_(ツ)_/¯
posted by brook horse at 11:34 AM on December 21, 2020 [1 favorite]
Physical books are still better for most uses other than reading a novel start to finish, though.
Oh yes! I am an ereader addict - I love my Kobo and read novels exclusively on it. But for any sort of book where I need to flip back and forth - especially an academic book - I still need to use a codex form of the book. Have worked with scrolls, it struck me that ebooks are much more like reading a scroll than reading a codex - you can set bookmarks, but you can't flip through skimming in the same way that you can with a codex.
posted by jb at 11:37 AM on December 21, 2020 [4 favorites]
Oh yes! I am an ereader addict - I love my Kobo and read novels exclusively on it. But for any sort of book where I need to flip back and forth - especially an academic book - I still need to use a codex form of the book. Have worked with scrolls, it struck me that ebooks are much more like reading a scroll than reading a codex - you can set bookmarks, but you can't flip through skimming in the same way that you can with a codex.
posted by jb at 11:37 AM on December 21, 2020 [4 favorites]
E-readers have their conveniences and I definitely use them for various things, but I'm puzzled at something not being mentioned...don't you guys mark up what you're reading? E-readers are terrible for that. Now that iOS has Scribble, which seems to work okay in the Kindle app, it may be less of a problem, but it's still a problem.
Not when reading for pleasure - and for work-reading, I would still print out the journal article or report.
Back when I was doing research from books, I would still never mark up what I was reading, because they were always library books and that is EVIL. Instead, I made heavy use of post-its (not ideal - the glue is damaging) and folded bits of paper I would collect at the end and staple together (better) so I could file them.
posted by jb at 11:40 AM on December 21, 2020
Not when reading for pleasure - and for work-reading, I would still print out the journal article or report.
Back when I was doing research from books, I would still never mark up what I was reading, because they were always library books and that is EVIL. Instead, I made heavy use of post-its (not ideal - the glue is damaging) and folded bits of paper I would collect at the end and staple together (better) so I could file them.
posted by jb at 11:40 AM on December 21, 2020
I love my Kindle and read on it almost exclusively, but it's no good for browsing through a book instead of reading it start to finish. Cookbooks in particular are a dead loss on Kindle.
posted by Daily Alice at 11:41 AM on December 21, 2020 [6 favorites]
posted by Daily Alice at 11:41 AM on December 21, 2020 [6 favorites]
I actually love cookbooks on Kindle. (Though on the Android app, rather than an actual e-ink device). I have several hundred recipes on me at all times, along with their ingredients - much better than the times I used to go shopping with a specific dish in mind and then find out the supermarket was out of leeks and what the hell do I cook NOW?
posted by Jeanne at 11:54 AM on December 21, 2020 [1 favorite]
posted by Jeanne at 11:54 AM on December 21, 2020 [1 favorite]
I actually find it a lot easier to use cookbooks on an e-reader--they're so bulky in print and take up too much counter space. But that's for recipes I already know exist, not finding new ones (or oohing and aahing at new cuisines).
I'm not saying I mark up everything I read--certainly not every bit of genre or nonfiction picked up from idle curiosity. But a novel I expect to take seriously? That gets bought in paper, for annotation purposes. Bonus: preservation of sedimentary layers of prior readings' commentary.
posted by praemunire at 11:56 AM on December 21, 2020
I'm not saying I mark up everything I read--certainly not every bit of genre or nonfiction picked up from idle curiosity. But a novel I expect to take seriously? That gets bought in paper, for annotation purposes. Bonus: preservation of sedimentary layers of prior readings' commentary.
posted by praemunire at 11:56 AM on December 21, 2020
I do wish there was an indicator/jump back to current page for when there's a need to do some flipping
I have about half learned to set a bookmark when I’m about to start jumping about, and about a quarter learned to un-set it when I’m done.
posted by clew at 12:00 PM on December 21, 2020 [1 favorite]
I have about half learned to set a bookmark when I’m about to start jumping about, and about a quarter learned to un-set it when I’m done.
posted by clew at 12:00 PM on December 21, 2020 [1 favorite]
The lack of a physical object could be seen as a positive and not a negative.
Not to quibble or derail too much, but you... still have the physical item. If the "digital file" is saved on a local hard disk, thumb drive, solid state drive, what-have-you, that is its physical location. If you take the drive out of the computer and smash it to pieces (like GCHQ had the Guardian do to the Snowden hard drives), the file disappears along with the physical medium it exists on.
Anyway, you still have a physical presence, it is just a different medium.
posted by deadaluspark at 12:23 PM on December 21, 2020
Not to quibble or derail too much, but you... still have the physical item. If the "digital file" is saved on a local hard disk, thumb drive, solid state drive, what-have-you, that is its physical location. If you take the drive out of the computer and smash it to pieces (like GCHQ had the Guardian do to the Snowden hard drives), the file disappears along with the physical medium it exists on.
Anyway, you still have a physical presence, it is just a different medium.
posted by deadaluspark at 12:23 PM on December 21, 2020
Another BookBub user here.
I read a lot on the Kindle... the app, rather than the hardware, these days. I have owned various forms of the physical e-reader since the 1st one, but my phone (Galaxy Note) is big enough, and it's nice to not have to tote another bit of hardware.
Why?
I used to travel a lot, 1-6x/month, and the Kindle was terrific, either on my phone or the e-reader device. It saved so, so much space and weight, while also letting me add titles on the fly.
For the past three years my physical books were in storage, thanks to a horrendous house selling and issues w/cross country moving. This was hobbling, especially as I completed writing one book and starting the next. ebooks were a huge help.
Once I passed 50 years old my eyes finally started becoming problematic enough to need assistance. Like LindsayIrene, I love the ability to easily change up fonts.
Annotation: it's better than it used to be. And my handwriting is horrendous, so there's the advantage of whatever I peck out being more clear to actually read.
Downsides:
1) Images that don't resolve well. That's especially true for detailed paintings and photos, as well as maps.
2) Stuff that isn't available. Lots of scholarly monographs, as aspersioncast notes. Some items my academic library has I can only read through a web browser.
3) " " Kindle doesn't handle well. Some pdfs work, and others are awful.
Cookbooks... I'm not happy with that world, now, and might post to Ask at some point. I work with print books, laptops propped up on counters, and my phone. I'm starting to feed recipes into Google Docs, because no other single solution is as good for what I need.
posted by doctornemo at 12:26 PM on December 21, 2020
I read a lot on the Kindle... the app, rather than the hardware, these days. I have owned various forms of the physical e-reader since the 1st one, but my phone (Galaxy Note) is big enough, and it's nice to not have to tote another bit of hardware.
Why?
I used to travel a lot, 1-6x/month, and the Kindle was terrific, either on my phone or the e-reader device. It saved so, so much space and weight, while also letting me add titles on the fly.
For the past three years my physical books were in storage, thanks to a horrendous house selling and issues w/cross country moving. This was hobbling, especially as I completed writing one book and starting the next. ebooks were a huge help.
Once I passed 50 years old my eyes finally started becoming problematic enough to need assistance. Like LindsayIrene, I love the ability to easily change up fonts.
Annotation: it's better than it used to be. And my handwriting is horrendous, so there's the advantage of whatever I peck out being more clear to actually read.
Downsides:
1) Images that don't resolve well. That's especially true for detailed paintings and photos, as well as maps.
2) Stuff that isn't available. Lots of scholarly monographs, as aspersioncast notes. Some items my academic library has I can only read through a web browser.
3) " " Kindle doesn't handle well. Some pdfs work, and others are awful.
Cookbooks... I'm not happy with that world, now, and might post to Ask at some point. I work with print books, laptops propped up on counters, and my phone. I'm starting to feed recipes into Google Docs, because no other single solution is as good for what I need.
posted by doctornemo at 12:26 PM on December 21, 2020
Yeah, as yankeefog sez, pirating an e-book because f&ck Amazon is also saying f&ck the author. Let's not do that.
posted by PhineasGage at 12:27 PM on December 21, 2020 [2 favorites]
posted by PhineasGage at 12:27 PM on December 21, 2020 [2 favorites]
I do wish there was an indicator/jump back to current page for when there's a need to do some flippingThis is an area where Kobo beats Kindle, fwiw.
posted by bixfrankonis at 12:37 PM on December 21, 2020
This is tangential, but I love eatyourbooks.com for finding recipes in cookbooks.
posted by tofu_crouton at 12:48 PM on December 21, 2020
posted by tofu_crouton at 12:48 PM on December 21, 2020
As Mary Ellen Carter said, the ability to turn any book into a large print book is a godsend for my deteriorating eyesight. I have a Kobo which syncs easily with my library’s Overdrive system, and prefer it to reading on my iPad because the Kobo backlight can be turned off and I can just use a lamp or ambient light.
I’m glad so many people don’t encounter anyone who scoffs at ebooks. I still run into plenty who are quick to argue paper books are superior. I usually point out the accessibility factor, which most them then say they never really thought about. I guess it’s easier not to think about it if you don’t have poor vision. I know I wouldn’t read nearly as much as I do without my Kobo and gigantic font size!
posted by hurdy gurdy girl at 12:57 PM on December 21, 2020 [3 favorites]
I’m glad so many people don’t encounter anyone who scoffs at ebooks. I still run into plenty who are quick to argue paper books are superior. I usually point out the accessibility factor, which most them then say they never really thought about. I guess it’s easier not to think about it if you don’t have poor vision. I know I wouldn’t read nearly as much as I do without my Kobo and gigantic font size!
posted by hurdy gurdy girl at 12:57 PM on December 21, 2020 [3 favorites]
But that's for recipes I already know exist, not finding new ones (or oohing and aahing at new cuisines).
That right there is a really good point that I never thought of. I definitely should get Joy of Cooking for the Kindle, because I know it well enough that I know where all the recipes I like are. Usually I only pick up a cookbook because I want to browse through it for an idea of something to make, which is hard to do on a Kindle.
posted by Daily Alice at 12:58 PM on December 21, 2020
That right there is a really good point that I never thought of. I definitely should get Joy of Cooking for the Kindle, because I know it well enough that I know where all the recipes I like are. Usually I only pick up a cookbook because I want to browse through it for an idea of something to make, which is hard to do on a Kindle.
posted by Daily Alice at 12:58 PM on December 21, 2020
I have yet to make the move to e-books, aside from a few e-textbooks.
I like independent bookstores. I like the tactile experience of a physical book, I'm reluctant to combine the pleasure I get from reading with yet another device. It's abundantly clear that these devices work well with a lot of readers, I'd include my family in that group, but not for me (yet). I get the portability and so on, I just don't like the trade-offs (Amazon, recharging something regularly, integrating another screen in my life.. no thanks).
posted by elkevelvet at 12:59 PM on December 21, 2020 [1 favorite]
I like independent bookstores. I like the tactile experience of a physical book, I'm reluctant to combine the pleasure I get from reading with yet another device. It's abundantly clear that these devices work well with a lot of readers, I'd include my family in that group, but not for me (yet). I get the portability and so on, I just don't like the trade-offs (Amazon, recharging something regularly, integrating another screen in my life.. no thanks).
posted by elkevelvet at 12:59 PM on December 21, 2020 [1 favorite]
"Somehow"[1], I have four Kindles (3 Fires, one each in 10", 8", and 6", and a Paperwhite), the first one of which I purchased in 2015. They all serve me for different purposes. I love physical books, but the convenience of carrying a ton of books with me feeds my ADHD search for just the right thing to read RIGHT NOW wherever I am.
My 12-step program published a copy of their Big Book on Kindle and being able to highlight the e-book and have it with me everywhere, even on my phone, has been amazingly helpful.
[1] I blame Woot, their ties to Amazon, and the prevalence of their cheap refurbs
posted by hanov3r at 1:34 PM on December 21, 2020 [1 favorite]
My 12-step program published a copy of their Big Book on Kindle and being able to highlight the e-book and have it with me everywhere, even on my phone, has been amazingly helpful.
[1] I blame Woot, their ties to Amazon, and the prevalence of their cheap refurbs
posted by hanov3r at 1:34 PM on December 21, 2020 [1 favorite]
I am a full on convert of ebooks, although I read on an iPad using Marvin primarily rather than an eReader. (I have a beat-up old Nook Simple Touch somewhere, but for my purposes the iPad has actually worked better. If I ever decide to switch back to using an eReader I suspect I'll get a Kobo; the ability to send dollars to the local indie bookstore, who I love, is really nice. I'm one of those cranks who absolutely refuses to buy ebooks unless I can rip off the DRM and hoard my own copy to do whatever I want with, so Amazon's ease of purchase system isn't very useful for me.)
One thing I love about ebooks is that I can turn basically all of them into passable audiobooks using text to speech and pick up right where I left off if I decide I want to listen to audio or read with my eyeballs. For whatever reason, sometimes I have a hard time with focus when I'm looking at text and sometimes I have a hard time with audio, and I really like the flexibility of being able to switch back and forth. I had a dyslexic student a while back and I know they also found the ability to use text to speech to process information faster was something of a game changer, too.
About all I can read on it is fluff though - for most academic work, poetry, science it's a non-starter. Basically anything where the layout of the page might matter. Also the vast majority of academic monographs still aren't available on Kindle, so if you're even academic-adjacent it's not great for work.
This is actually one of the things I really love about my iPad: there's enough PDF reading apps designed specifically for this that I can read conveniently without getting as distracted as easily, but also I can still walk away from my computer.
posted by sciatrix at 1:44 PM on December 21, 2020 [3 favorites]
One thing I love about ebooks is that I can turn basically all of them into passable audiobooks using text to speech and pick up right where I left off if I decide I want to listen to audio or read with my eyeballs. For whatever reason, sometimes I have a hard time with focus when I'm looking at text and sometimes I have a hard time with audio, and I really like the flexibility of being able to switch back and forth. I had a dyslexic student a while back and I know they also found the ability to use text to speech to process information faster was something of a game changer, too.
About all I can read on it is fluff though - for most academic work, poetry, science it's a non-starter. Basically anything where the layout of the page might matter. Also the vast majority of academic monographs still aren't available on Kindle, so if you're even academic-adjacent it's not great for work.
This is actually one of the things I really love about my iPad: there's enough PDF reading apps designed specifically for this that I can read conveniently without getting as distracted as easily, but also I can still walk away from my computer.
posted by sciatrix at 1:44 PM on December 21, 2020 [3 favorites]
I do essentially all my reading on an e-reader. I wish I could do so in a way that also directly supports my local book shop!
posted by benbenson at 2:02 PM on December 21, 2020
posted by benbenson at 2:02 PM on December 21, 2020
nthing the eyesight point.
When I worked shelving books in the library as a teen, I'm pretty sure I looked down on them, as if they were for people who weren't good readers. I'm ashamed of about my teenage vanity and arrogance, and karma is a bear, but I *was* kind of right. By my teenage definition, I'm not a good reader with my middle-aged eyesight! I can use reading glasses but it forces me to hold the book at a precise distance, something I never had to do before and isn't natural and I wouldn't read as much if that was all I could access.
Ereaders keep me in the game.
posted by mark k at 2:14 PM on December 21, 2020 [4 favorites]
When I worked shelving books in the library as a teen, I'm pretty sure I looked down on them, as if they were for people who weren't good readers. I'm ashamed of about my teenage vanity and arrogance, and karma is a bear, but I *was* kind of right. By my teenage definition, I'm not a good reader with my middle-aged eyesight! I can use reading glasses but it forces me to hold the book at a precise distance, something I never had to do before and isn't natural and I wouldn't read as much if that was all I could access.
Ereaders keep me in the game.
posted by mark k at 2:14 PM on December 21, 2020 [4 favorites]
Just want to add a factoid for the non- E-readers here. The Kindle Paperwhite I have has an astounding battery life. It holds a charge better than any battery device I have ever used. I had mine put away once for months when we moved and when I powered it on it still had like 80% of a charge. When I was using it regularly I would go weeks at a time without having to charge it. It's pretty remarkable. My basic point is: you do not have to charge them very often at all, even when using them a lot, at least in my experience.
I turn 50 in a few days and my eyesight is also not what it once was. The e-readers and adjustable text size really does help. Mine also has a setting where the "paper" looks sort of soft beige with black text, which is what I mostly use. Extremely easy on the eyes.
posted by SoberHighland at 2:23 PM on December 21, 2020 [4 favorites]
I turn 50 in a few days and my eyesight is also not what it once was. The e-readers and adjustable text size really does help. Mine also has a setting where the "paper" looks sort of soft beige with black text, which is what I mostly use. Extremely easy on the eyes.
posted by SoberHighland at 2:23 PM on December 21, 2020 [4 favorites]
seconding the love for Marvin, for iOS users. It just ... works.
posted by chavenet at 2:33 PM on December 21, 2020 [2 favorites]
posted by chavenet at 2:33 PM on December 21, 2020 [2 favorites]
The Kindle Paperwhite I have has an astounding battery life.
As a data point, my Paperwhite will be 8 and a half next month. It has seen daily use. That's over 3000 days of reading. I have dropped it so many times there are literal chunks out of the corners. I put it into a ziplock bag and bring it into the shower with me most mornings. I set my font size to REAL BIG so I'm turning pages every few seconds. I get interrupted a lot while reading and so usually I don't even turn the screen off, it just sits for 10 mins til it auto sleeps. I abuse my kindle.
It gets charged once a week.
posted by phunniemee at 2:38 PM on December 21, 2020 [1 favorite]
As a data point, my Paperwhite will be 8 and a half next month. It has seen daily use. That's over 3000 days of reading. I have dropped it so many times there are literal chunks out of the corners. I put it into a ziplock bag and bring it into the shower with me most mornings. I set my font size to REAL BIG so I'm turning pages every few seconds. I get interrupted a lot while reading and so usually I don't even turn the screen off, it just sits for 10 mins til it auto sleeps. I abuse my kindle.
It gets charged once a week.
posted by phunniemee at 2:38 PM on December 21, 2020 [1 favorite]
If I lost my phone I would be inconvenienced. If I lost my kindle I would be distraught.
The Kindle is great for:
- stuff in other languages. Built in dictionary!
- everything on Gutenberg
- downloading fic from AO3 & emailing it to to your kindle
- reading in the dark
- reading quietly if you're, for example, trapped under a napping or nursing baby
The Kindle is not great at all for diagrams or maps, which is a bummer. Aaaaannd the privacy, horrors of Amazon thing - is the water I'm swimming in I suppose but it is obviously Not Good.
I bought my kindle paperwhite in 2014, still going strong although the screen has chips in it somehow.
posted by the cat's pyjamas at 2:53 PM on December 21, 2020 [1 favorite]
The Kindle is great for:
- stuff in other languages. Built in dictionary!
- everything on Gutenberg
- downloading fic from AO3 & emailing it to to your kindle
- reading in the dark
- reading quietly if you're, for example, trapped under a napping or nursing baby
The Kindle is not great at all for diagrams or maps, which is a bummer. Aaaaannd the privacy, horrors of Amazon thing - is the water I'm swimming in I suppose but it is obviously Not Good.
I bought my kindle paperwhite in 2014, still going strong although the screen has chips in it somehow.
posted by the cat's pyjamas at 2:53 PM on December 21, 2020 [1 favorite]
I do essentially all my reading on an e-reader. I wish I could do so in a way that also directly supports my local book shop!Kobo has this partly figured out (Indiebound link), but it's klunky. I don't think there's a way to pick/switch a bookstore on the fly; you have to sign up for Kobo using a link from a given bookstore.
posted by bixfrankonis at 2:57 PM on December 21, 2020 [4 favorites]
I have a Kobo, which is almost identical to the Kindle, but I like the menu layout on the Kobo slightly better. I use it daily. I read paper books occasionally, but the convenience of ebooks is not to be denied. Currently I have over 50 books on my Kobo and it's less bulky than a single paperback. Take that, paperbacks!
If my Kobo breaks tomorrow morning, I'll have a new Kobo that afternoon. I find it indispensable.
posted by zardoz at 3:48 PM on December 21, 2020 [2 favorites]
If my Kobo breaks tomorrow morning, I'll have a new Kobo that afternoon. I find it indispensable.
posted by zardoz at 3:48 PM on December 21, 2020 [2 favorites]
integrating another screen in my life
The e-readers don't really feel like another 'screen' though. You can't get sucked into a YouTube video marathon, doomscroll through an app masquerading as 'news', or get into an argument with a troll on an e-reader. You pick it up when you want to read a book, and nothing else.
posted by meowzilla at 4:06 PM on December 21, 2020 [10 favorites]
The e-readers don't really feel like another 'screen' though. You can't get sucked into a YouTube video marathon, doomscroll through an app masquerading as 'news', or get into an argument with a troll on an e-reader. You pick it up when you want to read a book, and nothing else.
posted by meowzilla at 4:06 PM on December 21, 2020 [10 favorites]
Yeah, actually it's so hard to flip through an ebook, my ereader manages to offer me less ways to be distracted than a paper book! It does not feel like a screen at all to me.
posted by tofu_crouton at 5:28 PM on December 21, 2020 [2 favorites]
posted by tofu_crouton at 5:28 PM on December 21, 2020 [2 favorites]
I sometimes wonder if anyone in the world started off loving the Kindle like I did. My sister gifted me her Kindle 1 when she got a Kindle 2. I’d already been reading on Palm Pilots for years and desperately wanted an electronic reading device, and even that primitive device was a gift from heaven. I got rid of 90% of my paper books years ago with no regret (and purchased as many of the remaining 10% in ebook as I could).
Now I read more often on my iPad than on my year-old Paperwhite, but e-reading is the best way to go.
posted by lhauser at 6:10 PM on December 21, 2020 [2 favorites]
Now I read more often on my iPad than on my year-old Paperwhite, but e-reading is the best way to go.
posted by lhauser at 6:10 PM on December 21, 2020 [2 favorites]
I don't use Kindle because *shakes head* Amazon, but...
E-books and e-ink tablets are FANTASTIC! (I use my Onyx Boox for notes, maps, occasional web browsing, and a few other things besides books. I can take handwritten notes and scribble all over books and PDF documents no problem.)
Most of my ebooks come from the library. I prefer the Boox built-in reader to the Libby app, so I use this Firefox extension a lot. I'm going to check out Verso, though - lately I've been hitting the edges of the library's collection and may consider buying a few.
posted by sibilatorix at 6:33 PM on December 21, 2020 [4 favorites]
E-books and e-ink tablets are FANTASTIC! (I use my Onyx Boox for notes, maps, occasional web browsing, and a few other things besides books. I can take handwritten notes and scribble all over books and PDF documents no problem.)
Most of my ebooks come from the library. I prefer the Boox built-in reader to the Libby app, so I use this Firefox extension a lot. I'm going to check out Verso, though - lately I've been hitting the edges of the library's collection and may consider buying a few.
posted by sibilatorix at 6:33 PM on December 21, 2020 [4 favorites]
I got my first e-reader last year. I got one primarily because I was tired of avoiding certain books just because they would've been physically uncomfortable to read - too thick/heavy or with a ridiculously small font. I love not having to think about that with the e-reader.
I got one of those folding stand-up cases for it too, so I don't even have to hold it while reading. It's great.
I only like it for books that you're really meant to read cover to cover. I don't prefer it for things like cookbooks or academic texts where part of the fun is skipping around and browsing different sections of the book.
posted by wondermouse at 6:34 PM on December 21, 2020
I got one of those folding stand-up cases for it too, so I don't even have to hold it while reading. It's great.
I only like it for books that you're really meant to read cover to cover. I don't prefer it for things like cookbooks or academic texts where part of the fun is skipping around and browsing different sections of the book.
posted by wondermouse at 6:34 PM on December 21, 2020
I borrowed my mom's kindle, just to try it out, when she was staying with me to help just after my first baby arrived. I was skeptical I would like it as much as paper books -- and then I I read on her kindle while breastfeeding and HOLY SHIT, that alone is worth the price of admission. You spend so much time holding a newborn to feed them (breast or bottle, either one) and one arm is under the baby and you CAN hold a paperback, but your arm gets tired, and you're constantly having to move the book to turn pages. Holding and flipping with one hand was a LIFESAVER. I've been a devoted kindle user since then (Paperwhite FTW!). The #1 thing I told other new parents about breastfeeding was "GET A KINDLE." ("What if he has latch problems?" "I don't know, still get a kindle, you won't regret it.") I mean now people have smartphones but man was the kindle extremely key to my happiness as a new parent.
It was also a boon for me as an insomniac; my husband would hate when I used a booklight that was shining in his face when I was unable to sleep at 3 a.m. but getting out of the bed in the middle of the night when you're trying to sleep is so sucky! When the backlit paperwhite came out, it was like a marriage-saver.
"Touching a word to bring up a dictionary is the kindle's killer feature, in my opinion."
My BFF's husband is Norwegian living in the US, and he said the kindle was life-changing in two big ways: First, he could now get Norwegian fiction as e-books without paying for overseas shipping or waiting for his mom to come visit and stock her suitcase. And second, he could tap on English words he didn't know to get them translated to Norwegian. He was very fluent in English when I met him, but it was business English and his colloquial English was only so-so. He steadily improved, but then he got a kindle and his colloquial and social English knowledge skyrocketed. He was also really tickled to be able to read other people's high school English curricula novels -- I'd come over and he'd be like, "GUESS WHAT, I READ GREAT GATSBY" -- and pick up on all those cultural references. He also said that most of the English he read before his kindle was either business stuff, or schoolwork, and that he was delighted to discover English as used in modern fiction can be nimble and playful and not a bit dry, because it always felt dry to him.
Anyway, I've been using his trick as I try to learn Spanish, and getting Spanish juvenile e-books from the library and being able to tap on all the words I don't know DOES make it go a lot faster than trying to do it with a dictionary in one hand and a book in the other.
"I often want to page back to an earlier passage, which I can do kinetically with a book book. Isn't that difficult on a Kindle, or am I just being obstreperous?"
So I'm pretty glad ebooks weren't around when I was in college, because so much of my reading memory is dependent on "where was it on the page?" and "how far into the book was I, how did it feel in my hand?" At first I found it a lot harder to retain information from things I read on the kindle, and yeah, flipping back and forth is obnoxious on kindle. BUT I have found over time that my retention on the kindle has caught up to my retention from paper books, and that my brain has figured out how to compensate not knowing "where" on the page things are. So I think like anything else, your ability to do tasks you want to do does improve with use, and also as your brain picks up new skills specifically related to ebooks and stops trying to treat them as paper books. So probably I would have been okay with ebooks in college, as long as I'd been reading ebooks for a while by then? But if I'd had to make that switch while in school, I think it would have gone badly.
(Oh, pro-tip: if a book has something very flippable -- a glossary or maps, say -- authors often post those on their author page and you can keep that tab up on your phone while reading and flip to your PHONE rather than trying to flip in the kindle.)
posted by Eyebrows McGee at 6:41 PM on December 21, 2020 [6 favorites]
It was also a boon for me as an insomniac; my husband would hate when I used a booklight that was shining in his face when I was unable to sleep at 3 a.m. but getting out of the bed in the middle of the night when you're trying to sleep is so sucky! When the backlit paperwhite came out, it was like a marriage-saver.
"Touching a word to bring up a dictionary is the kindle's killer feature, in my opinion."
My BFF's husband is Norwegian living in the US, and he said the kindle was life-changing in two big ways: First, he could now get Norwegian fiction as e-books without paying for overseas shipping or waiting for his mom to come visit and stock her suitcase. And second, he could tap on English words he didn't know to get them translated to Norwegian. He was very fluent in English when I met him, but it was business English and his colloquial English was only so-so. He steadily improved, but then he got a kindle and his colloquial and social English knowledge skyrocketed. He was also really tickled to be able to read other people's high school English curricula novels -- I'd come over and he'd be like, "GUESS WHAT, I READ GREAT GATSBY" -- and pick up on all those cultural references. He also said that most of the English he read before his kindle was either business stuff, or schoolwork, and that he was delighted to discover English as used in modern fiction can be nimble and playful and not a bit dry, because it always felt dry to him.
Anyway, I've been using his trick as I try to learn Spanish, and getting Spanish juvenile e-books from the library and being able to tap on all the words I don't know DOES make it go a lot faster than trying to do it with a dictionary in one hand and a book in the other.
"I often want to page back to an earlier passage, which I can do kinetically with a book book. Isn't that difficult on a Kindle, or am I just being obstreperous?"
So I'm pretty glad ebooks weren't around when I was in college, because so much of my reading memory is dependent on "where was it on the page?" and "how far into the book was I, how did it feel in my hand?" At first I found it a lot harder to retain information from things I read on the kindle, and yeah, flipping back and forth is obnoxious on kindle. BUT I have found over time that my retention on the kindle has caught up to my retention from paper books, and that my brain has figured out how to compensate not knowing "where" on the page things are. So I think like anything else, your ability to do tasks you want to do does improve with use, and also as your brain picks up new skills specifically related to ebooks and stops trying to treat them as paper books. So probably I would have been okay with ebooks in college, as long as I'd been reading ebooks for a while by then? But if I'd had to make that switch while in school, I think it would have gone badly.
(Oh, pro-tip: if a book has something very flippable -- a glossary or maps, say -- authors often post those on their author page and you can keep that tab up on your phone while reading and flip to your PHONE rather than trying to flip in the kindle.)
posted by Eyebrows McGee at 6:41 PM on December 21, 2020 [6 favorites]
I'm a member of my cities Friends of the Library, which is nonprofit that supports programs at our library. The county library branch does not get much business because it is a small city of less than 7,000 homes. From what I have been told by our librarian, our branch doesn't get enough business based on physical books and other material being checked out. Ebooks don't count in the local library circulation. This would mean or local library shutting down despite locals getting ebooks checked out. How do we remedy this?
posted by waving at 7:09 PM on December 21, 2020
posted by waving at 7:09 PM on December 21, 2020
This would mean or local library shutting down despite locals getting ebooks checked out. How do we remedy this?
For me, eliminating fines for overdue books would get me back to checking out more physical books again. 90% of my e-book reading is because I can check books out without having to get them back to the library. Returning them on time is harder than it seems for a lot of people.
posted by corey flood at 8:16 PM on December 21, 2020 [1 favorite]
For me, eliminating fines for overdue books would get me back to checking out more physical books again. 90% of my e-book reading is because I can check books out without having to get them back to the library. Returning them on time is harder than it seems for a lot of people.
posted by corey flood at 8:16 PM on December 21, 2020 [1 favorite]
I enjoy reading PDFs on my Kindle. I attach the PDF to an email sent to the address associated with my particular Kindle. Placing the word convert in the email subject converts the PDF into a Kindle friendly format that’s easier to read. This conversion process works better for simple PDFs, ones that have more complicated formatting don’t seem to work as well.
posted by mundo at 11:10 PM on December 21, 2020
posted by mundo at 11:10 PM on December 21, 2020
I just thought of another accessibility point for an ereader: my dad had a bad accident early on 2020 and his arms and hands (and legs and feet) were paralyzed for several weeks. At first my mom and I read to him in the hospital, but eventually he regained some use of his arms. He still couldn’t hold a paper book or turn pages, so I gave him my old iPad and downloaded some library ebooks for him. He was able to set it up with the stand and then was able to “turn” the “pages” of the ebook by just touching the screen. I put it on accessibility settings and right away my dad went from relying on other people to read to him, to being able to read books by himself again.
Now that he’s regained more dexterity, he’s back to reading paper books (his vision is much better than mine) but ebooks were a real godsend when his hand mobility was so limited. It gave him some independence back.
posted by hurdy gurdy girl at 11:54 PM on December 21, 2020 [3 favorites]
Now that he’s regained more dexterity, he’s back to reading paper books (his vision is much better than mine) but ebooks were a real godsend when his hand mobility was so limited. It gave him some independence back.
posted by hurdy gurdy girl at 11:54 PM on December 21, 2020 [3 favorites]
Ebooks don't count in the local library circulation.
This sounds like a bad decision in statistics, not something easily resolved through trying to change patron needs/behaviour (although the point about fines is well taken.)
posted by warriorqueen at 4:35 AM on December 22, 2020
This sounds like a bad decision in statistics, not something easily resolved through trying to change patron needs/behaviour (although the point about fines is well taken.)
posted by warriorqueen at 4:35 AM on December 22, 2020
My wife reads a lot on her Kindle, she has a friend who regularly fills it up with books for her to read. The friend did the same for me one Christmas which was thoughtful in the sense that picking out books for someone is thoughtful. Unfortunately a full Kindle, (a pleasure no doubt to many,) is a horror to me. I have never successfully finished reading a book on it. I don't know if it is because my eyes are going or that I cannot concentrate, or that I just need dedicated retraining but for whatever reason the lack of flippability and physicality make reading on a Kindle physically uncomfortable for me at times. Sort of like I imagine claustrophobia is. It is funny though, I have been reading to my mom and I have been doing that using my Iphone and the Libby app so go figure. (Maybe reading out loud is different, maybe I have a reading disability because come to think of it I have discovered I like reading out loud more than reading with my mouth shut.)
On the subject is there any kind of large format reader that is the size of an 8.5x11 PDF? I read a lot of those and I would rather not do it at a computer desk/monitor. There was a Sony device at one time but it seemed just a smidge small, expensive and a little clunky.
posted by Pembquist at 9:28 AM on December 22, 2020 [1 favorite]
On the subject is there any kind of large format reader that is the size of an 8.5x11 PDF? I read a lot of those and I would rather not do it at a computer desk/monitor. There was a Sony device at one time but it seemed just a smidge small, expensive and a little clunky.
posted by Pembquist at 9:28 AM on December 22, 2020 [1 favorite]
Pembquist: A little Googling turned up Boox which has a line of 10.3" e-Readers.
posted by SansPoint at 10:06 AM on December 22, 2020 [2 favorites]
posted by SansPoint at 10:06 AM on December 22, 2020 [2 favorites]
Flipping around in a book on a Kindle has gotten easier, recently; some upgrade has given it better qualities in that regard. It's especially improved for the search function, where there's now a button on the bottom of the screen that says something like "return to text" or whatever that takes you back to where you were when you started trying to find out just what planet Colonel Millisor is from because you missed it the first time he was mentioned.
posted by The corpse in the library at 10:10 AM on December 22, 2020
posted by The corpse in the library at 10:10 AM on December 22, 2020
Ebooks don't count in the local library circulation.
Is the difficulty that they count for whole-system numbers but not branch numbers?
posted by clew at 10:27 AM on December 22, 2020
Is the difficulty that they count for whole-system numbers but not branch numbers?
posted by clew at 10:27 AM on December 22, 2020
Is this thread an okay place to say how much I like my Remarkable 2?
I am in my sixties. I really appreciate devices that do a small range of things well. For the Kindle it is obtaining and reading books (or nowadays, for Audiobooks). For the Remarkable 2 it is editing files and taking notes by hand.
I hate devices that do one thousand things where I must be subsumed into their universes. Come to think of it, I hate movies with "universes."
posted by dances_with_sneetches at 3:25 PM on December 22, 2020 [3 favorites]
I am in my sixties. I really appreciate devices that do a small range of things well. For the Kindle it is obtaining and reading books (or nowadays, for Audiobooks). For the Remarkable 2 it is editing files and taking notes by hand.
I hate devices that do one thousand things where I must be subsumed into their universes. Come to think of it, I hate movies with "universes."
posted by dances_with_sneetches at 3:25 PM on December 22, 2020 [3 favorites]
Like Orbach, I have also started buying a physical copy of books I loved. Unlike Orbach, I have nothing good to say about the Kindle, apart from that it can shovel books into your hand.
My main criticism is that the software for the kindle has not improved. It’s even gone backwards in some areas. The apps on the iOS devices I use are serviceable, but suffering from the same sort of neglect - the German to English dictionary, which I rely upon for a lot of my reading, couldn’t be downloaded for over a year, and they don’t use the inbuilt iOS dictionary. I’m glad to see a lot of my other criticisms are reflected above; non-fiction and cookbooks are useless on a kindle, page flipping useless. Finally, I use a 3G enabled kindle and the battery life is appalling, with it having about 10 days between charges when not in use.
If I was back in the UK, my kindle would be gathering dust under my bed. As it is, I search out other books I can read, and practice German as much as possible. Lately I’ve been taking my iPad to bed, as even reading on that is preferable to the kindle I have. I’ve thought about upgrading to a more expensive model, but I don’t see the software problems being solved anytime soon, and Amazon is gonna Amazon; they’ll cheap out, cut corners, and generally shortchange you.
posted by The River Ivel at 4:22 PM on December 22, 2020
My main criticism is that the software for the kindle has not improved. It’s even gone backwards in some areas. The apps on the iOS devices I use are serviceable, but suffering from the same sort of neglect - the German to English dictionary, which I rely upon for a lot of my reading, couldn’t be downloaded for over a year, and they don’t use the inbuilt iOS dictionary. I’m glad to see a lot of my other criticisms are reflected above; non-fiction and cookbooks are useless on a kindle, page flipping useless. Finally, I use a 3G enabled kindle and the battery life is appalling, with it having about 10 days between charges when not in use.
If I was back in the UK, my kindle would be gathering dust under my bed. As it is, I search out other books I can read, and practice German as much as possible. Lately I’ve been taking my iPad to bed, as even reading on that is preferable to the kindle I have. I’ve thought about upgrading to a more expensive model, but I don’t see the software problems being solved anytime soon, and Amazon is gonna Amazon; they’ll cheap out, cut corners, and generally shortchange you.
posted by The River Ivel at 4:22 PM on December 22, 2020
Another vote for the Boox Max. Its probably basically just Chinese spyware but it is magazine or larger size, supports the ability to read books and takes notes at the same time, split screen style, and has been great for me keeping my many many handwritten notes organized and easily accessible. I wish it were something made by one of the bigger Western tech companies (I mean, they spy too obvs) but for what i use it for, it's great.
posted by flamk at 6:26 PM on December 22, 2020
posted by flamk at 6:26 PM on December 22, 2020
I love, love, love my Kobo. I was an earlier adopter of e-readers, and bought a Kobo when they first came out. Living in Canada, Kindles were not really available for a long time, or were very limited, so I never got into the Amazon ecosystem. I'm still using a 7-year old Kobo Aura HD, and it is good enough that I have no reason to replace it with a newer model, but it is quite amazing to compare that to the first Kobo that came out only 3 years earlier.
For me, what really changed e-readers from an interesting novelty to best way of reading was decent backlights. Being able to bookmark, change the font size and page layout, and look up definitions at a touch, plus the light weight of the thing and the backlight, make reading on the Kobo much more enjoyable than reading a novel as a real book.
I still buy dead tree books ... but usually only out-of-print things that are hard to get otherwise or books with lots of pictures and graphic novels. e-ink readers don't do images well at all. If a novel has a map that I want to refer to while reading, sometimes I'll print it out and tuck it into the flip case for my e-reader.
Flipping back has gotten much better with recent software updates, but that is still a weakness compared to real books
posted by fimbulvetr at 10:23 AM on December 23, 2020 [1 favorite]
For me, what really changed e-readers from an interesting novelty to best way of reading was decent backlights. Being able to bookmark, change the font size and page layout, and look up definitions at a touch, plus the light weight of the thing and the backlight, make reading on the Kobo much more enjoyable than reading a novel as a real book.
I still buy dead tree books ... but usually only out-of-print things that are hard to get otherwise or books with lots of pictures and graphic novels. e-ink readers don't do images well at all. If a novel has a map that I want to refer to while reading, sometimes I'll print it out and tuck it into the flip case for my e-reader.
Flipping back has gotten much better with recent software updates, but that is still a weakness compared to real books
posted by fimbulvetr at 10:23 AM on December 23, 2020 [1 favorite]
For books with maps, I study the map intensely before reading in hopes that I can just commit it to memory.
posted by tofu_crouton at 10:57 AM on December 23, 2020 [1 favorite]
posted by tofu_crouton at 10:57 AM on December 23, 2020 [1 favorite]
For books with maps I sort of look at them sideways for 5 seconds and then forget about them.
You know, the same as I do with paper books.
posted by signal at 2:09 PM on December 23, 2020 [3 favorites]
You know, the same as I do with paper books.
posted by signal at 2:09 PM on December 23, 2020 [3 favorites]
I still buy dead tree books ... but usually only out-of-print things that are hard to get otherwise or books with lots of pictures and graphic novels.I'd hoped that the arrival of color E-Ink would make comics viable, but I guess that the way color E-Ink works means that the color pixels render in resolution reduced from the B&W resolution of the display. I don't know enough about it to understand if this is a forever-limitation thing or just a current-state-of-the-tech thing.
posted by bixfrankonis at 2:43 PM on December 23, 2020
Ebooks have been a part of my life for 19 years. The University of Virginia library converted public domain books to Palm Pilot and PocketPC formats and let anyone download them for free.
Even though tech changes rapidly, ebooks have stayed more stable, which is a blessing. You can still freely download old public domain ebooks (my favorite site is Standard Ebooks). The file format has evolved from OeBPS to ePub 3, but here’s a big secret: it remains at its heart just a zip file of HTML pages!
This means that if you buy an ePub without DRM, and the typos/scannos bother you, just unzip the .epub, fix the text in HTML, then zip it back.
That also means you really do own it. You can read it even if every cloud computer spontaneously combusts.
posted by Monochrome at 5:06 PM on December 23, 2020 [2 favorites]
Even though tech changes rapidly, ebooks have stayed more stable, which is a blessing. You can still freely download old public domain ebooks (my favorite site is Standard Ebooks). The file format has evolved from OeBPS to ePub 3, but here’s a big secret: it remains at its heart just a zip file of HTML pages!
This means that if you buy an ePub without DRM, and the typos/scannos bother you, just unzip the .epub, fix the text in HTML, then zip it back.
That also means you really do own it. You can read it even if every cloud computer spontaneously combusts.
posted by Monochrome at 5:06 PM on December 23, 2020 [2 favorites]
In case you didn't know, Amazon owns Goodreads (for more than seven years), and just announced they're going to disallow anyone else from touching their (I mean, your) data.
posted by meowzilla at 1:27 PM on December 21
I didn't know, and that is a bummer. Thanks for the info.
posted by joannemerriam at 10:29 PM on December 23, 2020
posted by meowzilla at 1:27 PM on December 21
I didn't know, and that is a bummer. Thanks for the info.
posted by joannemerriam at 10:29 PM on December 23, 2020
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posted by little onion at 7:21 AM on December 21, 2020 [11 favorites]