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comment by Pieareround
Pieareround  ·  3212 days ago  ·  link  ·    ·  parent  ·  post: We’ve adapted our reading habits to fit our screens, but at a cost.

I personally find paper books to be frustrating, especially if I need to go look for a particular reference. The ability to search an ebook by keyword cannot be overrated. There's really nothing special to me about the tactile nature of a traditional book. It just gets in the way, for the most part.

Interestingly, I also find that the depth with which I read something on the Internet actually changes based on where I found it. For example, I read through this entire article primarily because it was linked on Hubski, where the stated goal of the community is to inspire intelligent discussion. I knew that I'd need to read through the whole article if I wanted to be informed enough about its contents to post anything meaningful.

Had I found it on reddit, where the rapid consumption of content is my driving motivation, I almost certainly would have skimmed through it and moved on to the next meme or gif. On Facebook, I think my reaction might further depend on who posted it.





wildfire405  ·  3211 days ago  ·  link  ·  

My nook is a wonderful thing. I love being able to look up unfamiliar words by tapping and holding. Its the first thing I miss reading a print book.

What I've found surprisingly obnoxious now-a-days is holding the book open. That's actually kind of disappointing to me somehow because I LOVE the physical object and actually owning a thing. But I bought Anathem in print a few weeks ago in paperback. It's a 900 page monster and after 30 minutes of prying it open, I went online and (be it legal or not) pirated the E-book so I could read it on the nook.

I do wish publishers would get on board with that whole thing too. My idea? Buy the book at the bookstore for $15 OR go online and get it for $10 as an E-book. OR buy the book for $17 at the book store and get a code printed on the receipt to download an E-book version when you get home.