Printed books

[SIFU RON]

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.

[Lucas]

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.

[MasterKiller]

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.

[rett]

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.

[David Jamieson]

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.

[sanjuro_ronin]

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.