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Thread: Printed books

  1. #1
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    Thumbs up Printed books

    In a recent study 500 undergraduates at the University of California were asked to compare printed books with e-books. Most of the students said they still preferred reading from books pages rather than screens. Many of the students commented on the difficulty they have learning, retaining, and concentating when looking at a computer screne. A typical complaint is " E-Books divide my attention.

    It is easy to flip through the pages of a physical book, forward and backward. It's easy to go quickly between widley separated sections, marking your place with a book marker, thumb, or piece of paper.You can write anywhere on any page of a book. And when you just want to read, the tranquility of a printed page provides a natural shield againt distraction.

    All sorts of modes of navagation and reading that are easy with printed books become more difficult with electronic books. A printed book adapts readily to the reader but an e-book requires the reader to adapt to it. People tend to be more easily distracted from screnes. There's always the temptation to click on a link, visit Facebook, or play a quick game.

    What the survey tells us that it is rash to assume e-textbooks are a perfect substitute for printed text books. The printed page continues to be a remarkably powerful tool that's well suited to the needs of students.


    Printed books, magazines, and new papers are in my opinion not going to disappear.
    Last edited by SIFU RON; 08-16-2011 at 05:06 PM.
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  2. #2
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    I refuse to buy a e-book machine until I cannot find books in print. Text books however I think should be, for revision purposes. I also like to gift my fav books out to friends.
    For whoso comes amongst many shall one day find that no one man is by so far the mightiest of all.

  3. #3
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    I read books and magazines on my iPad. I'm sort if torn. It is very easy to get anything you want to read, but I worry about getting it wet, stolen, etc... So I can't take it everywhere.
    He most honors my style who learns under it to destroy the teacher. -- Walt Whitman

    Quote Originally Posted by David Jamieson View Post
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  4. #4
    I totally agree with this. Part of the problem may be bad habits from reading on the web. I'm used to quickly scanning whole pages to decide if they're relevant and then jumping on to something else.

    When I sit down with a real book I can feel this distracted grasshopper mindset struggling with the book for a while before I get into that smooth reading feeling.

  5. #5
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    With the people that love the things, the things will go away.
    That's just how it is, yesterday, tomorrow and today.
    We don't fly old planes or ride horses any more.
    We don't use typewriters and most of us don't
    read papers.

    Technology moves on, particularly in communication.

    Books had a good run, they'll be around for a while yet.
    But don't be surprised if in a couple of hundred years
    absolutely everything is virtual except for food, shelter and water.
    The rest will be some form of illusion to satisfy our desires.
    But it will not be a manifest thing, it will be a projection that we turn on or off like a light.

    The Sumerians liked their clay tablets...
    Books used to be written by hand and were quite beautiful and ornate.
    The printing press was viewed in many ways.

    we fear change for the most part.
    Kung Fu is good for you.

  6. #6
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    I love to read and I have tons of books, a few bookcases full.
    Reading is a total experience and it isn't just about reading.
    The feel of the book and pages, the look of the font, the smell of an old book, those things are just not replaceable.
    In June I picked up a bunch of old books at an antique store in Niagara-on-the-lake.
    There was ****ens, Plato, Hamlet and a New Testament from 1825.
    Its a beautiful experience to read a book and any avid fan, and true fan of the reading experience, will not find the some experience anywhere else.
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    Praise be my Lord my Rock,
    He trains my hands for war, my fingers for battle !

  7. #7
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    The suggestion that print and e-books are in conflict is a false one. Authors are just selling both.

    Publishers and agents are worried because a lot of them haven't bought the rights to electronic publication, leading to authors (including some of the biggest names; Rowling for example) pocketing a much greater share of profits.

    But, from an author perspective, e-books and print books are perfectly able to coexist.
    Simon McNeil
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    Be on the lookout for the Black Trillium, a post-apocalyptic wuxia novel released by Brain Lag Publishing available in all major online booksellers now.
    Visit me at Simon McNeil - the Blog for thoughts on books and stuff.

  8. #8
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    You make the salient point of it Simon.

    Digital publication simply allows the author more control over their art and more ability to make direct monies from their work without the need for a middle man.

    It also gives us terrific access to writings we otherwise would not have ready access to.
    Kung Fu is good for you.

  9. #9
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    I don't own a device to read an e-book, and at this point, I don't really care to. I like holding and reading an actual, physical book. Also, I suspect that there's more eye strain associated with reading too much from a screen. And although it's probably a negligible amount, I wonder about the radiation...but however small, it's going to be more than from an actual book.

    I also wonder, if something ever happend to the electrical grid, if everything started to be published only on e-devices, so much will be lost, probably forever. Also, as already mentioned, I can easily go back and forth and highlight things in a book, and go back to it at any time I want without worrying about turning something on.

    OTOH, the e-devices can save a lot of paper and space.

    Ideally, we will have a world where there is room for both options. So many brick-and mortar bookstores are closing now due to the popularity of e-books, which, IMO, is unfortunate.

  10. #10
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    Quote Originally Posted by Jimbo View Post
    I don't own a device to read an e-book, and at this point, I don't really care to. I like holding and reading an actual, physical book. Also, I suspect that there's more eye strain associated with reading too much from a screen. And although it's probably a negligible amount, I wonder about the radiation...but however small, it's going to be more than from an actual book.

    I also wonder, if something ever happend to the electrical grid, if everything started to be published only on e-devices, so much will be lost, probably forever. Also, as already mentioned, I can easily go back and forth and highlight things in a book, and go back to it at any time I want without worrying about turning something on.

    OTOH, the e-devices can save a lot of paper and space.

    Ideally, we will have a world where there is room for both options. So many brick-and mortar bookstores are closing now due to the popularity of e-books, which, IMO, is unfortunate.
    Don't worry about the radiation. EM spectrum is non-ionizing. Fear of RF is a borderline tinfoil hat fear that has somehow poked into mainstream consciousness.
    Simon McNeil
    ___________________________________________

    Be on the lookout for the Black Trillium, a post-apocalyptic wuxia novel released by Brain Lag Publishing available in all major online booksellers now.
    Visit me at Simon McNeil - the Blog for thoughts on books and stuff.

  11. #11
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    I went to a used book store and got a bunch of the Destroyer books a while back and every evening sat in my recliner and read for about an hour. Since there are over a hundred in the series i went and got all of them in e-format. I have yet to sit in front of the computer to read any of them.

  12. #12
    Quote Originally Posted by SimonM View Post
    Fear of RF is a borderline tinfoil hat fear that has somehow poked into mainstream consciousness.
    Are you referring to for instance cell phones? Because they cause interference with other electromagnetic fields. Since our nervous system consists of electromagnetic fields (with resonance properties among other things), it could very well disrupt functioning, even without damaging tissue.

  13. #13
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    There is no conclusive evidence of any sort of RF "radiation," including cell phones, causing any sort of harm to human systems, in fact, one study demonstrated heavy users of cell phones were less likely to get certain types of brain tumor than the control group.

    People fear change and believe all sorts of nonsense in order to try and justify those fears.
    Simon McNeil
    ___________________________________________

    Be on the lookout for the Black Trillium, a post-apocalyptic wuxia novel released by Brain Lag Publishing available in all major online booksellers now.
    Visit me at Simon McNeil - the Blog for thoughts on books and stuff.

  14. #14
    Quote Originally Posted by SimonM View Post
    There is no conclusive evidence of any sort of RF "radiation," including cell phones, causing any sort of harm to human systems,
    There aren't many interests that want to find such evidence either.

    I believe there have been studies showing that exposure to microwave radiation could disturb sleep patterns for example. Another that it stressed the brain in an analogous way to having a loud fan on in the room.

  15. #15
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    And yet, I used a cell phone as an alarm clock for two years, while in China, and it didn't interfere with my sleep.

    I think some people want cell phones to be harmful because it will justify their unease with the technology.

    However I've more respect for people, like one friend of mine who absolutely refuses to get a cell phone, who say "I don't want to carry around an electronic dog collar, I don't want to be connected 24/7," over people who invent health fears over innocuous devices. Frankly there are much more powerful RF fields EVERYWHERE than those put out by cell phones. As for actual microwaves, they have literally 1/10th the power of cell phones as far as RF transmission goes. Unless you are sleeping with your head touching a microwave transmitter you're not going to be getting much exposure thanks to the inverse square law.
    Simon McNeil
    ___________________________________________

    Be on the lookout for the Black Trillium, a post-apocalyptic wuxia novel released by Brain Lag Publishing available in all major online booksellers now.
    Visit me at Simon McNeil - the Blog for thoughts on books and stuff.

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