who buys these pieces of fresh air?
2007-09-04 10:12:01 · 16 answers · asked by Anonymous in Arts & Humanities ➔ Books & Authors
I wouldn't. That is why I have turned down offers to e publish. Books are something you hold in your hand and gently turn the pages. I couldn't possibly imagine sitting here staring at this screen through a whole novel. I also have a beautiful library here in my house filled with volumes I take down from time to time and read again. I do not think the future for e books is as bright as some think. I would never publish that way. Pax- C
2007-09-04 10:21:57 · answer #1 · answered by Persiphone_Hellecat 7 · 6⤊ 1⤋
Reasons to read E-books:
1. Adjustable type. When I can't find my glasses or the are all goofed up, I just change the font size and read away. I can also change the original font if I find it less than to my liking.
2. Backgrounds. I can adjust the color, brightness and even backlight behind the words if I want to.
3. If my eyes are tired, it can literally read to me!
4. If I need a quote or a passage, it's just a matter of cutting and pasting instead of typing the whole thing in by hand.
5. When I'm on a long trip that has a boredom factor of more than four (on a scale of one to ten) I can bring a library in the same amount of space that I used to allocate for one book.
6. I have a library of obscure, out of print, public domain texts that I would have to scour thousands of libraries and book stores in any other format, It's a welath of information that is available for free. Anyone who would not take advantage of such a blessing would also pass up money laying on the ground!
7. Lending an e-book to a freind (at least the public domain kind) is as easy as burning it off to a CD-R or a floppy. You can share the book and never ever worry about whether you are going to get it back! I have lost many freinds over books and it isn't because I would not have forgiven them. The book was simply more valuable to them than our friendship, so they distnaced themselves from me over the potential loss. I hate losing both a freind and a good book. I would much rather share an E-book!
8. I have my entire E-book library backed up in case of loss. When's the last time you tried to bakc up a paper library?
9. I don't necessarily have to read my e-book on an e-book reader. I can read one on my Motorola Q, my computer, my television screen (I can even scroll it across the bottom while I am listening to the news!) I can print out a hard copy of some or all of it if I want to, and I can even save delightful tidbits, then send them all over the world to my family and freinds!
10. I ahve an entire reference library in my music room. Students come to use my encyclopedias when the library is closed. I have a clever little protable that fits about thirty five students with some wiggling around, but I have enough books, music, and reference material (yes, it's legal) to keep my students happy for months! If a student says that they are too poor to get a book, I can put a public domain book on a floppy for them, tell them where and how they can read it, and even highlight the important text for them when necessary. My only question is why would anyone pass up the simple joy of owning e-books? They don't keep you from holding a book in your hand when you want to, but they offer a world of choices when you need them!
2007-09-04 11:26:35 · answer #2 · answered by MUDD 7 · 1⤊ 0⤋
Ray Bradbury wrote a short story called "The Fun They Had", which is set in a future where all children are taught at home by their computer. The girl's neighbour finds an old book in his attic, which describes schools where children had to go to a large building, and be taught by a person. The girl decides that it sounds much more fun than working alone at home, but she can't believe that anyone would go to all the trouble of producing a book which only had one story in it; her computer had given her hundreds of books to read and could give her thousands more.
Who knows how the good folk of the future might use their computers. After all, who'd have guessed that people would wander around with buttons in their ears listening to music? Why not an ipod which gives you books, which you can download from the library?
2007-09-04 10:31:15 · answer #3 · answered by Anonymous · 2⤊ 0⤋
I have ‘computer vision syndrome’ and don’t like reading on the computer, however I can see the value in an ebook and I have used them. When you can’t drive to the library you can pull up an ebook on your computer. If you’re lazy like me you can actually use the ctrl+f function to find exactly what you’re looking for without having to search through pages. Ebooks were designed for special handheld computers kind of like an ipod - not the big flat screen you and I are looking at now. Hope that helped.
2007-09-04 10:19:58 · answer #4 · answered by Celesse 2 · 2⤊ 0⤋
I bought one once! I had to submit an essay for a university course, and the book I needed wasn't in the library... so rather than paying for an inter-library loan, I bought the book I needed as an ebook, got the information instantaneously, and cheaper and faster than if I'd bought the real book. The essay I wrote using it was my best that academic year... so it was actually really useful, not a piece of fresh air at all, thanks...
2007-09-04 10:18:07 · answer #5 · answered by Buzzard 7 · 2⤊ 0⤋
Yeah I don't think anyone "buys" ebooks mostly one person will and then just make copies of it and give it out for free. But the attraction (for me) about ebooks is that my computer screen is set to the perfect angle and emits light and also I can flip it down and talk to my friends if i feel I need a break.
2007-09-04 10:21:23 · answer #6 · answered by jambo310 1 · 1⤊ 0⤋
I examine the two ebooks on kindle and paper books. i like the two. i'm extra used to paper, yet different than that, it makes no massive difference to me. despite the fact that if i does no longer examine an e-e book on a working laptop or pc or a pill. It hurts my eyes and my interest span seems plenty shorter on those too. i want the Kindle e-ink technologies. EDIT: basically a cople of issues, Nick. do no longer be conscious of approximately different e-readers, yet with Kindle e-ink technologies a minimum of, the attention element isn't a controversy: it certainly sounds like a printed web site. if your kindle crashed, the books are nonetheless saved on your amazon account, so no concerns there. And with a month-long battery existence I yet could journey being stopped in the midst of a e book.
2016-12-31 12:31:01 · answer #7 · answered by ? 3 · 0⤊ 0⤋
I don't like reading the e-books i have read a few that way and most of them i gave up on and went and bought the book anyway. I can take a book anywhere with me i can't always do that with an e-book. I don't think the future is going to be
e-books it just isn't very convenient. That's how i view it. I agree with the others a book is meant to be held in your hand. I also would never publish a book in e-book form.
2007-09-04 11:44:18 · answer #8 · answered by Anonymous · 0⤊ 1⤋
In my case the reason is space, all my bookshelfs are completely full. Also some of the old classics are almost impossible to find on print anywhere else. I download and keep them in my pc until I read them. I just delete them once I finished. The Gutenberg project has a fantastic website and all for free.
2007-09-04 10:28:05 · answer #9 · answered by fed up woman 6 · 1⤊ 0⤋
Well one book would be pointless - but many books, a hundred or so - would be really useful. Why not a laptop? well current computers are power hungry and don't have good displays in sunlight. Who would need to carry about a library? Someone doing research would, a travelling writer would.
2007-09-04 10:25:56 · answer #10 · answered by Anonymous · 2⤊ 0⤋