E-books: Why?

• "A book is proof that humans are capable of working magic." ~Carl Sagan
• "When I close a book
  I open life.
  I hear
  faltering cries
  among harbors." ~"Ode to the Book" by Pablo Neruda 4/19/2013
• "1. When you were little, books were your best friends in the world; 2..." ~from "25 Signs You're Addicted to Books" 9/2/2013
• "Reading is the work of the alert mind, is demanding, and under ideal conditions produces finally a sort of ecstasy." ~E. B. White, on the Future of Reading: Timeless Wisdom from 1951.
• "The digital revolution is far more significant than the invention of writing or even of printing." ~Douglas Engelbart
• "Tomorrow's illiterate will not be the man who can't read; he will be the man who has not learned how to learn." ~Alvin Toffler, 1970
• reading experience: font size, links, definitions, search
• portability, e.g., textbooks, libraries
• new content, interactivity: multimedia, social,...
• cost and speed of publishing/distribution process for E-books, e-newspapers, e-magazines
• see: iPad demo, Features, ...

Paper

• "Only on paper has humanity yet achieved glory, beauty, truth, knowledge, virtue, and abiding love." ~George Bernard Shaw
• "We notice things that don't work. We don't notice things that do. We notice computers, we don't notice pennies. We notice e-book readers, we don't notice books." ~Douglas Adams
• "I hate them [e-books]. It?s like making believe there?s another kind of sex. There isn?t another kind of sex. There isn?t another kind of book! A book is a book is a book." ~Maurice Sendak
• "A wonderful thing about a book, in contrast to a computer screen, is that you can take it to bed with you." ~Daniel J. Boorstin (pre-dates e-readers?)
• "There is no future for e-books, because they are not books. E-books smell like burned fuel." ~Ray Bradbury
• tradition
• personal preference: smell of leather, feel of paper, ...
• convenience (no batteries required; however, you might need eyeglasses & lamp)
• availability of titles?
• loan to a friend
• anti-technology?
• Paper Versus Pixel the science of reading shows that print and digital experiences are complementary; 8/2013
• BBC's The Beauty of Books: Penguin, Orwell, and the Paperback Cover Design Revolution 7/5/2013
• Digital Natives Still Tend to Prefer Print 16-29 yr olds prefer to read print editions while reserving their devices for personal or social use; 6/25/2013
• This Throne of Books Is Your Own Private Personal Library combo seat and bookshelves / magazine rack; 6/25/2013
• If the Web Preceded Print: The New Golden Age of Book Design and Creativity on Paper 6/20/2013
• Make a Secret Compartment Out of Multiple Books 5/31/2013
• The iPad Cleverly Detects This Connected Picture Book's Page Turns via magnets in paper page corners; 5/27/2013
• The Reading Brain in The Digital Age: The Science of Paper versus Screens E-readers and tablets are becoming more popular as such technologies improve, but research suggests that reading (text) on paper still boasts unique advantage; 4/11/2013
• The Day I Forgot How to Use a Book swiping upward; 4/10/2013
• Profound and hilarious poetry written by arranging book spines 5/19/2013
• Paper is not dead YouTube; 0:38; 3/3/2013
• Turning the page on paper Goodbye book shelves, hello less-sexy e-library; Chris Conrad; 3/8/2013
• Don't Burn Your Books--Print Is Here to Stay the e-book had its moment, but sales are slowing; readers still want to turn those crisp, bound pages; 1/5/2013
• Will Gutenberg laugh last? printed book still preferred format? 1/1/2013
• Bookworms 1/1/2013
• Print's longtime passing Kathleen Parker; 12/29/2012
• A Dark and Itchy Night: Bedbugs Hitch a Ride on Library Books 12/5/2012
• Author Andrew Piper: Turning Pages Is Important, Therefore Reading Ebooks Isn't Reading "touching is reading"; 11/30/2012
• Old Book's Worm Holes Show Geographic Origin 11/20/2012
• Book Within a Book: Stick Hamlet Between Your Pages books as bookmarks; 10/17/2012
• Some things should happen on soft pages, not cold metal letter to Oprah from Harper Lee; 10/15/2012
• Amazon?s Writing Is On The Wall For Physical Books 9/6/2012
• A Champion of the Book Takes to the iPad William H. Gass?s 1999 essay, ?A Defense of the Book?; now publishes on iPad; 8/17/2012
• Are Books Printed With Disappearing Ink Really The Best Way To Make People Read Them? 7/12/2012
• Tablet Adoption Lowers Reading of Physical Books, Newspapers, Survey Shows 7/3/2012
• Book printed with disappearing ink eventually goes blank The publishing house hopes to promote its new writers by forcing people to read quickly; 6/29/2012
• A few thoughts on books, videotapes and DVDs passing on to the dustbin of history 6/22/2012
• The Antidote to e-Books Espresso POD; 6/11/2012
• Swapping Used Books Online: BookMooch; >PaperBackSwap; >TitleTrader
• How to Tell When You?re Over-Propped books as decoration; 5/17/2012
• Why Flipping Through Paper-Like Pages Endures in the Digital World 5/11/2012
• HP takes print away from town for seven days, laughs at 'print is dead' claim 5/11/2012
• Is This the World?s Most Expensive Bookmark? Voigt Dietrich book table; 5/2/2012
• Why do old books smell? 5/1/2012
• Clues from Onion A.V. Club Crosswords, ed. Ben Tausig:
  13A / 17A. Something a kid can build only with the print (as opposed to the online) version of 65-Across
      EXTRA STEPS / FOR A SLINKY
  28A / 35A. Use for volumes of 65-Across in the kitchen
      STABILIZING / WOBBLY TABLE LEGS
  44A / 59A. Short dessert lover's application of 65-Across
      REACHING FOR / A COOKIE JAR
  65A. Encyclopedia discontinuing its 32-volume print version after 244 years
      BRITANNICA
  puzzle: [.pdf], [.puz]; solution: [.pdf]; 4/11/2012; Steve's OLLI Crosswords course
• Encyclopaedia Britannica: Civility In The Face Of Adversity 4/6/2012
• Britannica's halt of print edition triggers sales 4/5/2012
• We?re Using Way More Paper Than We Ever Have Before 4/3/2012
• Glory Be To The Window Seat: A Bizarre 'Spiritual' Defense Of The FAA's Airplane Gadget Ban 3/28/2012
• Opinion: Shutting down your gadgets at takeoff and landing: not such a bad idea 3/25/2012
• After 244 Years, Encyclopaedia Britannica Stops the Presses (primary focus on its online encyclopedias and educational curriculum for schools); 3/13/2012
• Encyclopaedia Britannica drops print and goes digital only 3/13/2012
• 8 Unexpected Downsides of the Switch to E-books ;-) 2/14/2012
• Move to Digital: Lose Your Unwanted Books (sites and tools to help make your physical books disappear); 1/22/2012
• The Joy of Books (video; 1:52); 1/9/2012
• Disruptions: Norelco on Takeoff? Fine. Kindle? No. 12/25/2011
• DODOcase For The Kindle Fire Is Ready To Disguise Amazon?s Tab As A Hardbound Book 12/8/2011
• Paper Is More Forever 12/6/2011
• Selling Old-Style Books by Their Gilded Covers (papers, edges, embossing, design elements); 12/4/2011
• Clive Thompson on the Future of Printed Books (print-on-demand); 11/29/2011
• For Their Children, Many E-Book Fans Insist on Paper 11/21/2011
• Bullet-Stopping Books: Can Literature Literally Save Your Life? 11/8/2011
• Japanese house made out of bookshelves is reader's delight 6/20/2011
• Where do books get that amazing "old book" smell? [video: 2:06]
• 10 Strange Phobias: #10: Papyrophobia: Fear of Paper