The paper book vs. e-book debate has been going on for 20 years now. 20 years! Just use both! Paper books look lovely on a shelf. Ebooks are fantastic for finding indie authors. Paper is great for reading in a comfy armchair. Ebooks are perfect for reading in bed. It's yet another false binary. - ThreadSky

redfernjon.bsky.social • 77 days ago

The paper book vs. e-book debate has been going on for 20 years now. 20 years!

Just use both! Paper books look lovely on a shelf. Ebooks are fantastic for finding indie authors. Paper is great for reading in a comfy armchair. Ebooks are perfect for reading in bed.

It's yet another false binary.

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jrtomlin.bsky.social•77 days ago

Not merely for finding indie authors. They are great if you have problems with your hands as an e-reader is lighter & turns pages with a touch. They are great for people w/vision issues as you can change the size of the text. Ebooks don't take shelf space you mayn't have, and don't collect dust.

stephengrahamking.bsky.social•77 days ago

Amen to that. The discourse on this is exhausting. E-books suit my personal needs best. But other people are different and can decide for themselves.

redfernjon.bsky.social•77 days ago

It's so weird that it's treated like an either/or, and that one is better than the other! Surely the text is the point...

stephengrahamking.bsky.social•77 days ago

I had to explain to someone once that it wasn't books per se that I loved, it was stories. However they came to me. Songs, pictures, art, novels, short stories, etc. I think there's an extra layer for the print book people. The form is a big part of the experience for them.

redfernjon.bsky.social•77 days ago

Absolutely, and I also love printed books, but not as much as I love literature itself!

stephengrahamking.bsky.social•77 days ago

Yes! That's it.

dgallup.bsky.social•77 days ago

I like both! I'm constantly reading ebooks, but I also have author-signed copies of several paper books, which I enjoy reading immensely. Also, I have a couple of first edition books that are cherished.

jeanette555.bsky.social•77 days ago

Absolutely. The point of books is the words and ideas anyway, that'll be the same on a screen or on paper.

scottdagostino.ca•77 days ago

Absolutely! I love paper but a few years ago, I developed a vision problem in my left eye that made reading paperbacks more difficult. The bigger fonts on an e-reader have been a godsend 👍🏼

redfernjon.bsky.social•77 days ago

Absolutely, I love that e-readers allow me to read books without wearing glasses. Plus they're usually waterproof, which helps with reading in the bath!

scribblerhackit.bsky.social•77 days ago

Plus they travel light! No more weighing down suitcase with paperbacks.

redfernjon.bsky.social•77 days ago

Yes! Though when travelling I take a paper book along too, just in case. I was once on a two-week trip to Morocco and a co-traveller's Kindle died on the flight there...

scribblerhackit.bsky.social•77 days ago

Yikes! IME most larger foreign cities w tourists have at least one shop with a selection of English books, but the trick is being near those towns.

jordanalimt.bsky.social•77 days ago

E-books gave me access when my local bookstore chain couldn’t provide the wide variety of books. E-reading shaped my early literary tastes.

jeksenri.bsky.social•77 days ago

E-Books for me, are better for the fact you can make the text as large as you need. The font sizes in print is, frankly, terribly small and sometimes hard to even read without me having to go take a pair of my mother's reading glasses and wearing them with my own glasses.

dankaszeta.bsky.social•77 days ago

E-books die when you die. You can’t pass them on to heirs

jrtomlin.bsky.social•77 days ago

Most books that are 'passed on' end up on a dusty shelf at Goodwill the person they were 'passed on to' having had to schlep them down there.

jrtomlin.bsky.social•77 days ago

Or an equivalent UK thrift store.

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