Which do you like to read an e-book or actual book?

Question

I'm an avid reader and for a long time I wouldn't even consider getting an electronic copy of a book. But I had to change my mind when I found that some of the stories I was interested in reading were only available in e-book form. And just like I thought I like the actual books better. I can carry the hard copy books around with me, but even with my notebook e-books are a pain. And depending on where I am I have no privacy (I can't stand people reading over my shoulder). Every one knows what I'm reading. Call me old-fashion, but actual books are better. So which do you like?

Answer 1

I still prefer reading actual books and I know it's quite traditional but one of the reasons is that the books since some hundreds of years ago definitely mean the paper, their printed pages after pages, with some illustrations (maybe), the pages bound and covered by paperbacks or hardcovers. Therefore such books provide us unique and sensual appreciation when we pick them up to browse or to read while reading from e-books is simply reading from the computer screen and for free. It's different from reading from authentic pages of elegant fonds that we can see and mark and take notes wherever we want by, for me, a pencil so that I can quickly review where I've read or what I've commented, agreed or disagreed for another round of reading or for new comments for my students or for myself.

Answer 2

Real books are the only way to go. Like everyone else, they smell wonderful. Nothing like going into a library or books store and smelling all the crisp new pages. Plus you can hold it like a friend or something if that makes sense. It is like having company that is tangible, if not human. It is more of a personal experience ,where reading online seems cold and distant.
Curling up with something hot to drink, propped up in bed with a dog at your feet ,is the ultimate in relaxation. You just cant get that with a computer.

Answer 3

Personally, I prefer paper books myself. However, a number of people I know read books on PDAs. And recently, some companies have also produced electronic readers about the size of a book. Reviews I read for one said the controls were clunky and suggested that people wait for an improved version. I suspect that in a couple of years, there will be a number of products on the market that will allow for private reading of online books.

Answer 4

Actual book, Fifty Shades Darker

Answer 5

I've got to have an actual book. I like to read in bed and on the bus and don't want to carry a laptop with me. Plus, it's just not the same. I love the feel of a book in my hands.

Answer 6

I've had to download a few things to read as e-books due to availability issues, and I greatly prefer actual books and always will. They're far more convenient, being more portable than even the lightest laptop; they're more comfortable, since the light is coming from around you rather than at you; and staring at a computer can't quite compare with the tactile experience of reading a book, from its smell, to its design, to the simple act of turning its pages.

Answer 7

I'd use an e-book if that was the only way to read something, but I prefer an actual book.
The glare from the screen isn't good for anyone's eyes, anyway.

Answer 8

I have never tried an e-book, and are unlikely to. Like you, I like the solid feel of what I am reading, and it only takes a half second to open a book and start reading. I bet it takes longer to call one up on a computer.

Answer 9

Actual books. Call me weird but I love the smell of books. Plus, you can look at a computer screen for so long.

Answer 10

actual books. although maybe I ought to rethink that, since my apartment looks what the aftermath of mt. Vesuvius would have looked like if volcanic rocks were books.

for all the above reasons - read in bed, read waiting in line, read on the bus (not so much in LA, but I bring a book if traffic's light and I get places early - ) feel them, skip around in the text, smell them, look at the covers, collect them, buy them in bulk at library book sales - and here's a new one - STACK them. yes, I like to stack books. It soothes my OCD immensely to take a heap of books and organize them so they are stacked neatly by size (and sometimes weight.) You know, the pocket paperbacks in one and the oversize paperbacks in another and the hardbacks that are skinny and.... um...you get the point.