Arlo and Janis by Jimmy Johnson for April 12, 2014

People who think a Kindle can get wiped out so easily and cannot be restored should not have technology because they lack the understanding to back up their data.

….and words are all I have to take your heart away.

I love the delicate sliding sound of turning the pages…..I never go anywhere without a book…..Doctor’s appointment? I don’t care how long I have to wait, I’m having a great time….

one word: Luddites.

Although words ARE one of the cooler inventions of mankind…..

This argument, used by people who are afraid of new technology, is really starting to annoy me.

People who like books annoy you?

I’ve grown accustomed to my Kindle

(And it doesn’t take up as much room as my library did)

People who know less than I about technology are Luddites; people who know more than me (and brag and name-call about it) are technocratic snobs! :-D

I get so much more satisfaction by doing a crossword puzzle on paper than online. It’s more personal. BTW, if you’re posting here, you’re not a Luddite.

One thing I have to say about books it that you don’t have to worry about the battery dying right when you get to an interesting part of the story.

Ever borrowed a book from the public library and found pages missing?No?Lucky.

moreorless, Michael ford, et al: those who prefer the printed word and books made of paper and leather do not necessarily have any aversion to, or fear of, technology. We just prefer the feel and yes, even the smell, of actual books. I have tried reading books via an electronic reader but I just could not enjoy it as much as I do an actual book.At work I’ll gladly read research papers on the computer and I am glad I no longer have to subscribe to a myriad of paper journals to keep up with my field of research, but I have never found joy in reading papers. It is a necessary part of choosing science as an occupation so i will use whatever tool makes it easiest.But a book, read in the evening while relaxing in an easy-chair, cannot be replaced by sheets of plastic and OLED.

I tend to buy used books, or borrow them from the library, so the smell doesn’t mean much to me. I find the words the most attractive part, so paper or pixels are equally attractive. I prefer paper in bed, but sitting anywhere to read is better on a screen.

My problem with paper books(and magazines) is my inability to cull my collection. Being a voracious reader, I have a book library that would make PG Wodehouse blush. I have trouble tossing newspapers, something about the sacred printed word, I suppose. Kindle saves space. But, I love the feel of paper.

Special books are bought in paper. All others, Kindle, baby!

Actually books and ebooks both have their place.If all I want is the info, then an ebook is great.But Arlo’s right about a well-crafted book which can be a delight even when rarely read.

But how do you KNOW?

I bought a book marker and I can’t let that investment go to waste.

I like both paper and electronic books, but I favor electronic books. I carry an iPad with more than 100 books, a much easier task than carrying 100 paper books. I love being able to select a word and look up the meaning without leaving the book I’m reading; forgive me, but I’m too lazy to look up unfamiliar words with a paper book, because I have to find my dictionary. (When reading a paper book, I find myself touching a word I don’t know, and then realize the book is not going to give me the definition.) I also enjoy highlighting passages and adding notes to my books without messing up the pages for other readers. Oh, and the electronic highlighter never gets lost or runs out of ink.

I have tons of hardback books and a Kobo Mini. The Mini gets the free eBooks, most of my hardbacks nowadays come secondhand off abebooks.com.

I’d love to support my local book seller but up in this part of Maine the nearest small bookshop is at least three hours drive away…

Actually, if you go back to the roots of it, Luddites were a group of weavers who refused to adopt the mechanical loom because the machines produced work of much inferior quality than hand-weavers, until such time as the looms were improved to the point where they produced a decent product. Luddites are not technologically backwards, Luddites just refuse to jump onto new technology until it is proven to be useful and have a benefit. I don’t own a Kindle. I don’t particularly care to own one. I own several hundred books. If I were going on a long trip and couldn’t take lots of books with me I would probably get a Kindle but otherwise, no. Part of the experience of reading is the physical properties of holding a book, the touch, the scent, the feel, the sound. Enjoying that doesn’t make a person backwards. Both methods have their benefits. I can read a book anywhere and don’t have to recharge it. A Kindle can store dozens if not hundreds of books without taking up any shelf space. You e-book readers, enjoy yourself, but don’t scorn those of us who still prefer real books. I have books in my collection that are 140 years old and you can still read them. I doubt any sort of modern e-reader will still be around or functional a hundred years from now…

DOSQueen: I can remember when libraries would literally cut out “inappropriate” pictures, oblivious to the fact that there was something essential on the other side of that sheet.

I’m pretty much sick of this crap.

I have severe arthritis, and it’s in my hands. So for me? An e-reader is an INCREDIBLE blessing. It’s lighter than a book, and I don’t have to hold it open.

This “all you have is words” crap is just stupid elitism— because what I have is a STORY. Which is exactly what YOU have— and I have it in a format that requires no trees to die, no nasty-smelling paper mills to run.

Take your bigotry and go straight to the 1800s, where you belong.

Janis can’t get pictures either on her Kindle….

What’s wrong with liking both? I love the convenience of ebooks and my iPad. I also still love to hold a real book. They both have their place in the world. Plus it makes holidays easier on the hubby and son.

Yeah, Clemens too..And you don’t KNOW an EMP will ever hit or if anyone still alive afterward would have a problem with their Kindle..Many of us have lived much of our lives without a single EMP to show for it. WE’RE DISINCLINED TO DEPEND ON THE END OF THE WORLD TO JUSTIFY NOT LIVING LIFE TO THE FULLEST. KINDLES FOR THE PEOPLE!!!.Looking back at it, it doesn’t make much of a rallying cry, but the thought is still there.

Is that his usual reading out fit??

I love both. The Kindle for the space that it frees up in my condo and books for what Arlo said. I learned to love the Kindle after we had to move in with family years ago and 3 of us lived in one bedroom. Space was such a luxury that the only way I could resume my love for reading was to order digital books and have them stored in my Kindle. If not for that, I wouldn’t have been able to read as much during those two stressful years.

I love electronic gadgets and read both e- and printed books but prefer printed. When I was a kid I loved to read stories in older hardover books that looked well-used and had their own kind of papery smell. I think libraries tend to discard kids’ books more quickly now which is a shame.

I love my kindle fire HDX but I have tried to read books on my kindle but I just can’t get into the book, and I have some of them in both kindle version and real book form and all I can read is the real book form.

I have hundreds (or maybe thousands) of books in my house. My problem is that I need a magnifying glass to read them. A Kindle, with larger fonts at a touch, is becoming more and more desirable.

I own hundreds of books that take up one huge, entire wall from floor to ceiling in my house. While I will continue to add to my [paper] collection from my favorite authors, I also own a Kindle that I wouldn’t give up for anything in the world. I love borrowing e-books from my not-so-local public library [not to mention Amazon’s Lending Library ] to read and have discovered many different authors and genres that I wouldn’t read or know about otherwise. Plus, trips out of state to visit my in-laws in the sticks is made a whole lot easier with a Kindle, which holds as many as I need while I’m gone without having to physically take at least 10 or 12 p.b. books with me.

I honestly don’t think the written word has anything to fear from the electronic one because there seems to be more than enough room for them both!!!!! ;-)

I see no reason one can’t enjoy both….? Why does everything have to be “either or”?

You can’t have your Kate and Edith too(And they say Country & Western doesn’t have great music)

The ideas are what’s important.

Books are great, but for traveling a Kindle can’t be beat. Especially if your travels require hauling technical manuals.