Books vs Kindle

Thekwango said:
Probably more. I’m a ‘start a book and move on’ kinda reader currently. So many books I’ve started but not finished. And not even because I dislike them! :(
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Hah fair enough. I used to read so much that I had a policy that if a book wasn't captivating me, I'd ditch it. Life's too short to read something you're not interested in! Relaxed the policy a bit of late as I'm reading more business books, and I've read a lot of the older fantasy books that I expect myself to love.
 
dirtychinchilla said:
Hah fair enough. I used to read so much that I had a policy that if a book wasn't captivating me, I'd ditch it. Life's too short to read something you're not interested in! Relaxed the policy a bit of late as I'm reading more business books, and I've read a lot of the older fantasy books that I expect myself to love.
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I tend to take the attitude I'll tend to give a book a go for an hour or two, or potentially a hundred or so pages and if it doesn't catch me I'll drop, however if it's by an author I normally like, or it's something that people I trust have recommended I'll often give it another go a few months on. It's turned out more than once that a book I initially dropped, I've massively enjoyed when I've come back to it in a different frame of mind or having read another genre for a while.

Peter F Hamilton's Night's Dawn Trilogy took me about 3 attempts to get past page 100 of the first book (which is about 800 pages long..), once I'd got past that and got into the universe and some of the characters I pretty much read it over the space of a few days.
 
I prefer real books but e-books are just more convenient especially as book print is so darn small (it'll come to you all, yes it will) they also require good light conditions whereas illuminated screens do not
 
Werewolf said:
That sounds a bit like my dad before his eyes got worse (he's 80's and was using an e-reader from pretty much the moment he saw my 505).

They're an absolute godsend for people with bad eyesight, that and audible which has made getting full audiobooks easy and relatively cheap to do.
My dad uses my audible account, I think in 2019 he did something like 100 books, I'll admit I was struggling to buy them fast enough, I'd been a sub for about 4 years at that point, and very deliberately buying every book I thought he'd like when they were on offer he went through vast swathes of my library in about 2 years (2400 hours in 2020).
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My Nanan used talking books which the RNIB do. She hardly uses the audio books on Daisy discs anymore as since in the care home, she spends her days talking to fellow residents.

Here’s the digital audiobooks that info https://readingservices.rnib.org.uk/
 
dirtychinchilla said:
Hah fair enough. I used to read so much that I had a policy that if a book wasn't captivating me, I'd ditch it. Life's too short to read something you're not interested in! Relaxed the policy a bit of late as I'm reading more business books, and I've read a lot of the older fantasy books that I expect myself to love.
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99.5% of my Kindle books are non fiction and most are split into independent chapters. So for example, https://www.amazon.co.uk/Victoria-Cross-Heroes-Michael-Ashcroft/dp/0755316339. Each chapter is about a different VC holder about how they gained it. Doesn't matter if I don't read the next VC holder's valent ways many months later.

Great book BTW.
 
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Had a Kindle paperwhite for years. Thought it was great. In lots of ways better than a book, lighter and easier to hold when reading at night, easier to carry than a book and you can bring a lot of books with you at once. And of course the convenience of getting a book delivered in seconds. However, I still preferred a real book and used to read as many books as I could and bought books regularly.

Then a few years ago my paperwhite stopped working and I treated myself to a Kindle Oasis. For me, that has replaced books completely. I haven't bought a real book since. The extra bit of weight in the Oasis feels really good. It's like holding a book. I find it so much more comfortable than holding the paperwhite and a real book. Also, you can adjust the brightness and tone of the colour so that it can look exactly like your favourite book. Combine that with all the other advantages, ability to change fonts etc. etc. I don't think I will ever read a book again, and I am slowly buying kindle versions of all the real books I have.
 
I don't read books but I do prefer magazines in print format. Not a fan of digital services such as Readly as it's just like reading a PDF and sitting there with a laptop or tablet is not the same as leafing through a magazine with a cup of tea.
 
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Been reading on Kindle since 2011 but only for fiction. My wife joined the club much later when we started to get rid of books due to lack of space and carrying lots when traveling. It is so convenient and when Kindle introduced backlighting it became perfect. Currently using on Oasis and for me the experience is better then holding a bulky novel. I still love a real book and Kindle will never replace non-fiction and large format books for me.
 
Cosimo said:
Been reading on Kindle since 2011 but only for fiction. My wife joined the club much later when we started to get rid of books due to lack of space and carrying lots when traveling. It is so convenient and when Kindle introduced backlighting it became perfect. Currently using on Oasis and for me the experience is better then holding a bulky novel. I still love a real book and Kindle will never replace non-fiction and large format books for me.
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Yup

About the only physical books I've bought in the last 10-15 years have been either a few by favourite authors, books for various RPG's and tabletop games, and the likes of art*/photography/making off books where the books have a large number of pictures where even a large tablet isn't big enough compared to the page size.
Having said that I've taken to loading my tablet with copies of the rules for things like Warhammer 40k, as it's much easier to carry the tablet than 3 books, print outs of the FAQ's etc (not to mention copies of the books anyone else might need).



*No not that kind of "art" for the dirty minds, things like "The art of Ghost in the Shell" or "The Art of John Harris" and "Sci fi art of the 80's".
 
Cosimo said:
Been reading on Kindle since 2011 but only for fiction. My wife joined the club much later when we started to get rid of books due to lack of space and carrying lots when traveling. It is so convenient and when Kindle introduced backlighting it became perfect. Currently using on Oasis and for me the experience is better then holding a bulky novel. I still love a real book and Kindle will never replace non-fiction and large format books for me.
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The backlight enhanced the experience massively for me. I have it on pretty low, but it's enough for me to be able to read anywhere. I had an older Paperwhite and now have the latest generation one, and if you'll excuse the pun, it's like night and day.
 
I just bought a book on Kindle that I own in paperback. The dyslexic font and increased font size mean I am way faster with less eye strain on the Kindle.

A sad day for me as I like reading physical books, the Kindle is just a better fit for me now.
 
Brando said:
I just bought a book on Kindle that I own in paperback. The dyslexic font and increased font size mean I am way faster with less eye strain on the Kindle.

A sad day for me as I like reading physical books, the Kindle is just a better fit for me now.
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I guess there's potential for e-readers to open the world of books to many dyslexic people who just don't read because it's too difficult for them. I have a friend who's dyslexic who struggles and has therefore never read a whole book. I wonder if it would be worth getting him to try my old Kindle to see if he can get on with it. Then again, he probably has no desire to read, but I also don't think he knows how magical books are.
 
dirtychinchilla said:
I guess there's potential for e-readers to open the world of books to many dyslexic people who just don't read because it's too difficult for them. I have a friend who's dyslexic who struggles and has therefore never read a whole book. I wonder if it would be worth getting him to try my old Kindle to see if he can get on with it. Then again, he probably has no desire to read, but I also don't think he knows how magical books are.
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The dyslexic font works well, it stops words moving around for me so much, meaning I can scan lines faster and take more in/less re-reads (best explanation I can offer). Using it worked straight away for me but I've had friends who needed to get used to it to see benefits.
 
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