Comments on: Kindle vs. non-kindle books

By: dave chamberlin

dave chamberlin — Fri, 06 Jan 2012 17:02:32 +0000

They each have pros and cons. What I like about paper books is I can underline what I think is important, refer to the page number and a few word desription in the front of the book so that I can dig out the exact quote I need later. Used books via amazon is still ALOT cheaper than the minor reduction in price via kindle. I like my kindle for a variety of reasons which I think have been well covered by comments already. You can by the way buy some really nice looking floor to ceiling book shelves you can assemble yourself in under an hour at stores like target. For us book nerds nothing picks up the look of your home office like wall to wall bookshelves on what would otherwise be a blank wall. I must confess I’m an old fart and I like my old fashioned paper books, but my old tired eyes prefer kindle.

By: Naveen

Naveen — Thu, 05 Jan 2012 22:11:18 +0000

I’ve switched away from paper books for a couple of years now, and use Kindle on a variety of devices: iPhone (great for crowded Tube trains), iPad (lying on the sofa), as well my trusty Mac and (not so trusty) Dell laptops.
The main draw for me has been the portability, and of course speed at which I can obtain books.
Having access to all my archived books (and now documents) as well as the automatic synch’ing of bookmarks is also a nice.

However, I do still yearn for somewhere to pencil notes, and the feel of those lovely tangible pages between my fingertips…oh well.

By: Antonio

Antonio — Thu, 05 Jan 2012 18:47:29 +0000

side comment: when living in Brazil (Rio de Janeiro) I never have problem while buying books from Amazon, though they took longer than now that I live in LA and have the premium thing.

By: Steve

Steve — Thu, 05 Jan 2012 16:03:12 +0000

I used Kindle extensively when living in Brazil but I’ve switched back to paper since returning to the US. The fact that one doesn’t “own” a book on a Kindle and the high amazon.com prices totally turn me off.

By: Zora

Zora — Thu, 05 Jan 2012 11:03:22 +0000

A small screen, such as on the iPhone, is fine if you’re near-sighted. Just take off your glasses and hold the screen a few inches from your eyes

By: Antonio

Antonio — Thu, 05 Jan 2012 07:40:00 +0000

I’ve not read many books lately and the few I am reading is still via old fashioned style, which I like. I have a question though: Razib and others, how do you read scientific papers? The ones with lots of graphs, tables and equations. Do you print them? Or read over the computer? Or over tablet? If so, which one? How about annotation? That’s have been my drama lately. Cheers,

By: Garvan

Garvan — Thu, 05 Jan 2012 04:09:31 +0000

In the last six months, I have purchased more Kindle ebooks than paper books, the main reason for the change being immediate delivery. I have used Amazon’s mail delivery service for years, so Kindle ebooks were my first choice (to limit the number of companies with my credit card details).

So far I have used the free software reader to read the ebook’s on my netbook, but expect I will get some kind of kindle device when I am next in a country where they are available for sale. When reading technical books, I quickly adapted to using bookmarks and making notes, so I don’t miss the convenience of quickly browsing a paper book. One issue I have is that maps and technical diagrams are too small and could not be zoomed with the free reader. I hope this will be better with a Kindle.

By: Randall Parker

Randall Parker — Thu, 05 Jan 2012 03:06:55 +0000

Razib, Impulse buying: yes, I buy more books now that I own the Kindle DX. I’ve also started buying more music for my Galaxy Nexus Android 4.0 phone. Just bought large collections of Mozart performances for really cheap. I’m amazed at how cheaply one can build up an excellent classical music collection.

I do all of my book shopping and most of my music shopping using a PC web browser. It is much faster that way.

I like that I can read my books and listen to my music on multiple devices. I now use my previous Android phone as a music player and alarm clock.

By: Randall Parker

Randall Parker — Thu, 05 Jan 2012 03:01:37 +0000

I rarely buy anything but Kindle books mostly due to shelf space limitations. I had to give away a few hundred books in order to move. If I had a huge house with a dream library I’d own more hard copies. But eBooks have a lot of advantages.

I’ve got a Kindle DX which is much more appealing to me than a tablet because it has much longer battery life. I don’t want to reach for my book reader and find the battery is dead. Battery life measured in weeks is best for book reading IMO.

Smart phones as book readers: I’ve done this with a few novels. I wouldn’t want to do it with technical books or historical books where I want to refer back and forth. I really want better navigation so I can switch back and forth between areas of interest. My ideal book reader would use eInk, a screen another inch bigger than a DX, and better navigation within and between books.

By: Clark

Clark — Thu, 05 Jan 2012 01:50:50 +0000

I like to read in the tub after a workout. And Kindles or iPhones don’t do well there. That said I have been testing reading both with the iBooks app and the Kindle app on my iPhone and really enjoyed it. (Overall I prefer iBooks just because you get fewer false clicks than with the Kindle app) Works great when your spouse is trying to go to sleep as you can read in the dark. The downside is that I’ve bought a lot of my books used and you can’t get those prices in the ebooks.

By: Guido Cole

Guido Cole — Thu, 05 Jan 2012 00:45:26 +0000

I read on my iPad. Novels mainly on the kindle app, scientific literature on pdf reader, easier for high lighting. Impulsive buying has increased, but the overall cost is significantly down (shop prices in Mexico are very high). As many others I resent the high cost of ebooks in Amazon and some other distributers, they seem to promote piracy.

By: chris w

chris w — Wed, 04 Jan 2012 19:30:23 +0000

I read books exclusively on the Kindle — not the device, but the application on the iPhone. I found tablets to be too large for my taste, as I can’t hold it in one hand. Books are very readable on the iPhone screen, and considering that I always have my phone with me, it’s ideal. I’m currently rereading “Song of Ice and Fire” on my phone.

Toto said:
“So where do you purchase your weekly new set of eyeballs?”

I don’t find reading on the iPhone to be difficult on the eyes at all. It’s extremely readable, every bit as much so as a regular book. The font size is exactly the same, so I don’t see why you think it would be a problem. It’s only a problem on the computer because of the overly-long lines of text.

By: omar

omar — Wed, 04 Jan 2012 18:35:02 +0000

Off topic, but what did you find out about Pankaj Mishra? Do you think he read Niall Ferguson’s book or not?

By: Alexander

Alexander — Wed, 04 Jan 2012 17:40:10 +0000

I always loved books. Science fiction, fantasy, history, obscure old novels. I love to read the good ones over again. I have a bad back. I move fairly frequently. Used to scour used book stores looking for the rest of Dumarest of Terra after reading a couple. They found bedbugs in the local library. The entire set popped up at amazon at 3 am. while I lay in bed shopping. I’m waiting for Kersh. Love my kindle.

By: Joseph

Joseph — Wed, 04 Jan 2012 13:44:04 +0000

I’m not hung up on look and feel. Why do you care about how you flip pages? I’m interested in the content. Also, the text on the screen of an iPhone is not much smaller than on the page of a book, plus it’s backlit, and you can make the text larger if you want. I don’t think it’s harder on the eyes.

By: JL

JL — Wed, 04 Jan 2012 09:21:29 +0000

I mostly read with Kindle these days, but what I miss from paper books are the unique designs. Paper books are often aesthetically pleasing, whereas books in the Kindle format all look the same — i.e. they’re practical but pretty ugly. I also like old-style page numbers, which you don’t get with Kindle.

By: Ian

Ian — Wed, 04 Jan 2012 09:14:53 +0000

I bought a Kindle 3g keyboard because I live in the Boondocks of Thailand and it is a 400km drive each way to buy a stack of new English language books each time I run out. No, it’s not the same as reading a book, but I wouldn’t be without it.

By: Wes

Wes — Wed, 04 Jan 2012 05:21:13 +0000

By the way, does anyone recommend any newer fiction books that might be of interest to people who read this blog? Or for people that enjoy HBD, or political incorrectness, or original thought? Something in recent years (not Wolfe or Rand or Asimov). I hate most fiction (always have) but would love something fun, new and interesting to read from this perspective.

By: Wes

Wes — Wed, 04 Jan 2012 01:05:18 +0000

I am using Kindle more these days, and only Kindle when it comes to ebooks (as opposed to Nook), due to the huge availability of books on Amazon. I must say, I actually like reading it on a laptop more than the Kindle in some ways – more functionality, better screen, etc. But the Kindle is decent. I think as the technology improves this is the future

And the impulse buys are OK, I think you have 7 days to return. Old fashioned book still has a lot of advantages though.

By: Michael Watts

Michael Watts — Wed, 04 Jan 2012 01:02:55 +0000

My thoughts:
I purchased a Kindle for the purpose of being able to obtain books while living in China. It’s vastly superior to paper books in that regard.

The kindle is easier on the eyes than a paper book is, lighter, and less unwieldy. It also obviates the need for a bookmark.

Older books are by and large not available on the kindle; a major downside.

I was pretty pissed off to find Amazon selling the kindle edition of a book (Mistborn: alloy of law) for more than the hardcover edition (~$12 to ~$8, though the hardcover has bumped up since then). In general, ebooks from amazon seem to be noticeably more expensive than ebooks from other sources. They’ll do something bad to their reputation as a low-cost source if they keep it up.

The kindle is quite inferior at the use case where you want to look at multiple things on multiple pages. In a paper book, I’d use my multiple fingers.

Impulse buying is certainly easier on the kindle, but every time I buy more than a couple of books I start to feel strongly that I should be pirating them instead. At the rate I can consume books, that makes for a significant cost savings, and that consumption rate is raised by the kindle.