What's your take on this? Would you rather have an ebook or a physical book?
On the one side, you don't have to deal with staring at an artificial light, and typically the pictures are more in frame. You also get decorations for your book shelf.
On the other side, ebooks are immune to deterioration. They save your spot. You can search through them and bring them with wherever you go. Also you don't have to worry about actually holding up a heavy textbook while you read.
Recently, I've been buying the actual books. But now I'm wondering if I should just start buying the ebook versions instead, because of these reasons, and they are typically cheaper. (as they should be.)
100% physical to me. Call me old fashioned, but I much prefer the feel of a real book. That and I don't have to worry about keeping it charged when I go camping.
I only buy ebooks for most of my purchases (and I rarely purchase light stuff. These I get from the Lab's library or a public library), because it saves non-renewable resources. Publishers are well known for sourcing paper from the cheapest, ergo the most dubious, sources (the rainforest is almost dead!!). But for the one or two seminal texts, e.g. Aspects of the Theory of Syntax, Cartesian Linguistics, The Minimalist Program, or The Feynman Lectures, I do get hard copies. That, or if I find something really interesting and rare... for instance, on my last visit to Wellington, NZ, I came across this really curious, little, used/old bookshop, tucked away in a forgotten corner of Cuba Street...
And it had some of the most amazing and rare books, if you did some digging around. I bought three books from here, one is called "Lady Newall's New Zealand Gift Book", of which only 100 copies were ever printed, and it is essentially a collection of paintings, poems, letters etc. documenting New Zealand's civil history during the War. The second is a fascinating piece of Civil Rights memorabilia in the form of "Muhammad Ali Memories", and contains some of the most epic photographic representations of Ali's life, as well as the 60s and 70s civil struggles. And the third, also an outcome of my fascination with the 60s and 70s, is called The Incredibly Strange Film Book, and it basically (as the subtitle says) is an alternative history of cinema, that focusses particularly on independent, low-budget cinema, including some cutting edge stuff done by Tinto Brass, Russ Mayer and the like on non-commercialized, pre-pornograpgic erotica!
These would be types that I would almost ALWAYS buy hard copies of, price notwithstanding. It's irrational, I know... but I am yet to overcome that particular strain of decadence. sigh
50% hard copy / 50% e-book. Forum university I prefer physical copies (less eye strain) but I do buy ebooks, especially for books that are very expensive or that I don't find "worth it" a physical copy. If I find an eBook particularly good I usually end up buying the physical copy too. But if I know from the start that it's really good I go straight for paper.
On a side note I really hate reading ebooks on standard screens, that's why I got a Kindle, but still I'd have liked a bigger screen.
I actually prefer the real thing. There is no other feeling like opening a book, riffle trough the pages and take a deep breath.
You can't do that with e-books. Now that being said I do find myself reading e-books occasionally. When I commute to uni I find it a little more comfortable to carry a kindle rather to bring the book itself.
I like books more, hardcover and old school leather the most. However for travel you can not beat a kindle (though I break everything I love, just broke my 5th one..... need a otterbox made for it lol) reading on a tablet or phone is dumb to me.
Seems that I am the odd one out here. While I appreciate a physical copy of a book, and still do buy them for stories that hold deep meaning to me, I actually prefer e-books and audiobooks over the physical copy 99% of the time! I've never liked the idea of holding onto 'stuff', and letting that 'stuff' own me in a way; rather, I would much rather read the story because what I value are the ideas and stories in the text itself, not the physical book. When it really boils down to it, I value the living space over feeling burdened down by having to live with tons of books.
I also couldn't care less about the smell of books.
I'm a fan of both, I guess. I love that I have a library of books in my house, but I also appreciate that e-books can hold an entire public library's worth and still have room to spare. But books don't have batteries.
I like both, I buy both. However, I don't buy a ton of books. I have maybe 50-60 physical books and a handful of books on my Kindle. Typically it's just a matter of where I'm at when I am looking at books. I will usually stop at the books section in Target when I'm grocery shopping, and I will sometimes also just get on Amazon looking for books. If I'm on Amazon there's a 50/50 that I'll buy a physical copy vs eBook.
If it's a genre I know I like, and have someone else that reads that genre (like my grams and I both like Dean Koontz and James Patterson), I will buy a physical copy with the intention of letting them borrow it after.
Sometimes I buy both. :) :) I was reading Hugh Howey's Wool on my Kindle and thought it was awesome, so I bought a physical copy because I wanted to lend it to someone else to read because I thought they would also enjoy it.
However, there's also a lot of books that I read I didn't buy. I've made use of the Kindle Lending Library (or whatever it's called) to 'checkout' books to read before 'returning' it.
I'm in the same boat. I have many ebook, and very few physical book. I only have what I know I'm going to reread again and again, if not I'll give it away. As for the experience books are better, but convenience wins.