DeadSplinter is a book-loving group. You tell us on The Brain Drain what you’re reading, but I’d like to know how you read. I love actual books, but being a voracious reader makes the cost and storage of physical books unsustainable. Instead, I rely heavily on my Kindle Paperwhite for borrowing ebooks from the library. What’s your preferred format? Do you consider listening to audiobooks reading? Where do you get most of your reading material?
…I can listen to audiobooks…or radio plays…but I find I don’t retain much
…ebooks…on a dedicated device is arguably better but I’ve got to the point I can read on my phone if it’s all I have to hand
…but nothing matches a real book…& I retain what I read much better…if I’m hunting a quote in something I’ve read before I can usually get close to the right place to open it & only need to flip through looking for about where I think it lands on the page
…maybe not as quick as a search box…but I don’t have to tab through all the other places similar words show up?
I agree with all of this. I get too distracted when trying to listen to an audio book. I don’t enjoy reading on my phone but I can’t go directly from Hoopla to my Kindle. At least I haven’t figured out how to yet. If I had unlimited space I’d continue to buy all my books despite the expense. Unless I win the lottery, an impossibility as I don’t play, or an unknown relative leaves me enough money to buy a house with room for a library it’s ebooks for me. sigh
Oh, I am almost totally Kindle in my reading.
The exceptions are reference-type books, such as cookbooks, gardening books, Feng Shui or Astrology books, business books, advertising books (Ogilvy on Advertising was publish 40 years ago and is still au courant), etc.
Physical cookbooks are a must for me. Especially ones with lots of photographs. Have you seen Dylan Hollis’ Baking Yesteryear? It’s a fun read even if you don’t bake anything from it.
I also have Ogilvy on Advertising!
Tablet, almost 100%. I have a lot of allergies, and unfortunately old books trigger them. That’s one of the reasons I sold off my comic book collection — I couldn’t take them out of their bags and read them any more without getting a runny nose and red eyes. I still have some old collectible books in plastic, but I’ve acquired electronic versions so I don’t have to open them.
Also, and I think I’ve mentioned this, but I read very quickly. So before tablets I would take 3-4 books on a plane. That gets unpleasantly heavy quickly. Once the first iPad was released, I jumped on that. I’ve left Apple behind, but I still have an Android tablet with a ton of memory.
Bedbugs also really demotivated me to own paper books. They get into lots of places and the heat treatment fucked up a lot of the glue holding my books together.
I didn’t know they affected books. That stinks.
I can relate to hauling heavy books around. I’ve moved a lot and carting boxes of books is ridiculous. It’s one of the main reasons I got a Kindle when they first came out.
Travel is only a minor problem from a book/weight perspective. I mentioned that allergies was one reason I sold all my comics. The main reason was that it was too expensive and physically demanding to move them any more. I had been collecting since I was 8. I had literally a couple tons of comics. I didn’t have the money to pay somebody to move them and I didn’t ever ask for help, because people would get angry and annoyed when they saw the rows and rows of longboxes. So it was me, trudging up and down stairs with boxes, day after day. When we moved to and from Atlanta, I had to rent a separate truck and make a separate trip for comics. I just couldn’t keep doing that. I was in my forties when I sold them all and moving them damn near killed me every time. I’d never be able to do it now.
Fortunately, there are scans of virtually every comic ever created now, and publishers now just make files available through their apps. I switched to digital, sold my comics, and never looked back. I probably have about six boxes left of comics with sentimental value. I still buy paper comics at my shop each week but once a year I trade them all in for store credit.
I love my kindle for most reading. But I still get physical books from my local library!
Also anything that requires a strong visual component, like cookbooks, I need as a physical book. If I used a larger screen tablet, it might not be necessary but for a kindle or phone screen it doesn’t work for me.
I prefer real books and am glad ebooks weren’t a thing when I was in school. I retain more when reading a physical copy. I used to love highlighting passages that moved me.
Now I purely read ebooks on my phone (kindle or overdrive). That’s only because of my current stage of life with young kids. Five years from now, I hope to be back to reading physical books. I’ve got all my old books stored in boxes in the garage. My big plans for the far future is to convert the garage to a lounge and install all the book shelves. Our garage is above ground because we live on a steep slope so it isn’t a stretch to make it livable…other than the garage door needs to be sealed or something.
That sounds great. My daughter used the extra bedroom in our house as an entertainment room where she and her friends would watch movies and play games. When she moved out I took it over. It has all my books and a comfortable sofa for reading. I love having a special room of my own.
Convert your garage into a tiki lounge.
My library is a great source for those books where I’m really not sure if I want to read them, but figure it’s worth dipping my toe in the pool. They’ve got a huge catalog which allows orders online, and transfers to the local branch usually only take a few days.
I also get most of my books from the library. It seems like popular books are reserved in ebook format moreso than physical ones. If that trend continues, then I’ll be very happy in 5years.
I have both the city and state wide library cards so I can get pretty much anything I’m interested for my Kindle or phone. And have access to Hoopla and Kanopy, which has a great selection of Criterion movies.
Physical books only here.
I do like the feel of a book in my hands. But with my vision issues being able to increase the font size on my Kindle a bonus.
I am a physical book person, but I got a new kindle recently that is much bigger than my old one so I might venture into eBooks. Nothing beats a real book tho. I am pretty much the only person not looking at their phone when I go to the salon.
I am currently re-reading the Hunger Games trilogy. Almost finished with #2, I’ll probably finish it tonight. It’s so good even if I don’t agree with the ending.
I like my Paperwhite more than reading from a regular tablet. Maybe it’s psychological but it seems like more of a book to me. 🤷🏻♀️
i read in bed and prefer paperbacks
mostly coz they dont hit me in the nose quite as hard as hard covers when i doze off
never tried a kindle yet….suspect it will also be quite hard…(not the biggest fan of reading from a screen either..)
and audio books and me are a no go as after a few minutes ill be off in la la land and not really be catching any of it
I’ve hit myself in the nose a few times reading in bed. My Kindle hurts!
I love ebooks in theory, but in practice, I never find them as satisfying as a “real” book, so I’m a paper guy all the way, mostly through the library.
I don’t care for audiobooks because I don’t retain them half as well as I do reading things myself, and they’re generally too long because I read a lot faster. “Jonathan Strange & Mr. Norell” is one of my favorite books of all time and I just looked up the audiobook length: 33 HOURS!!!! Too long!
Ooh, I love that book. But 33 hours? The series didn’t last that long!
I like ebooks especially at work when I’m reading a novel.
I prefer the physical thing when it comes to studying and writing notes as I put notes in the margins.
I’m a fast reader for fiction, but slow it down when I’m studying because you need to concentrate more on the actual words instead of just zooming past them at about a page a minute.
I agree with this too. I can take notes and highlight in my Kindle but it’s not the same as marking passages in a physical book.
I like traditional books and e-books. I cannot do audio books because of my attention span. I read on a tablet or my phone through the Kindle and Libby apps.
I rely heavily on the library, but my family is a reading family, so I always receive traditional books for Christmas and birthdays.
I love giving and getting books for Christmas. This makes me wish I lived in Iceland.
https://www.smithsonianmag.com/travel/icelands-christmas-book-flood-is-a-force-of-nature-180981293/