What do you think about books?

I love reading books. It allows me to escape into my own imagination as against having a film producer do it for me.

I love to read – I couldn’t even be with someone who didn’t – literate people turn me on, big time (not saying that illiterate people because of all sorts of circumstances don’t but this isn’t about that)...I love books in my house, everywhere…I am getting a Kindle 2 for my birthday next month…I don’t care how I read them – I love bookstores, all of them, really…I can spend days in a bookstore…I can read multiple books at the same time, I can read without sleeping if necessary, books inspire me…I want to write some when I ‘grow up’...man, I just get so excited…

I’d rather read a book. I spend enough of my day staring at a screen already. We are turning into a screen-dominated culture.

I love them!There is nothing like the feel of a good book in your hand.The older ,the better.Far better than reading from a computer screen and to have a book read to you…bliss :))

I love the feel and look of books.

Whats the POINT of those electronic readers. ITs just too much. I love books. Especially the smell of old ones.

When I first saw this question I thought it said “What do you think about boobs?” I got excited

I prefer the actual book to an electronic version. It’s more accessable that way. I like to visit Barnes & Noble every once and a while. They have a nice atomosphere.

I love books.
I don’t see the appeal in an electric reader thing. I like the smell of books and the way they feel in my hand. I also love roaming aimlessly around a big bookstore and coming out with a few treasures.

I like big independent bookstores, like The Tattered Cover in Denver. I like to support smaller businesses, and I like to get lost in the store for hours. Tiny specialty book stores are nice, but they just don’t do it for me.

I love reading and I prefer books. It is easier to keep up with where you are and you don’t spend as much time worrying about someone walking off with it.Besides I like the smell of a new book. Of course I like the smell of an old one.

Yes what @deni said.

All of it. ;-)

If I’m at home I prefer a regular book.
If I’m traveling, though, I would prefer an eBook reader of some kind. It’s a lot easier to carry around a bunch of books in electronic form and, in cases of airplanes, easier to use in crowded situations.

I also think that the current crop of ebook readers are way too expensive. When my Dell Axim was working, though, I used that quite a bit to read books.

In books we find all the hopes, dreams, aspirations and failures of man and mankind. We read of his loves, his losses and his yearnings for a better world. What a magical thing is a book. And I do so love the smell of dead tree in my hand, whether old or new.
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“Outside of a dog, a book is a child’s best friend. Inside of a dog it is too dark to read anyway.”

I prefer real books to e-readers… and well water to that tap crap, and dinosaurs to whatever we have now, and makin’ my business in a bucket, and yellin’ to talkin’ in ta one a them Graham Bell do-hickies, and…

I love books. Everything about them. The smell, the feel, and the contents.

I have a small laptop that I use as an e reader and it’s just not the same.

Understandably e books are the way of the future and whatever it takes to get a book in people’s hands I am all in favor of.

I like all bookstores but my favorite is the used bookstore. Nothing like looking around at the titles that someone, somewhere, once thought interesting.

I love books. I buy more than I read just because I like having them around. I have never tried reading an online book, I have to admit that it doesn’t appeal to me.

“When I get money, I buy books. If there’s anything left over, I buy food!” : D

I love books. The more the merrier. I have no time for ebooks, but I do have several audio books for when I am doing housework or exercising. I do not watch television, I would much rather read a book.

My house is full of books and I get more from the library. Both hard cover and not. My library has a neat thing, You can exchange paperbacks, pick one up and leave one.

It just so happens that I make a living reading books. I’m an editor. Don’t get excited. I’ve never read anything famous before it came out. But I can easily say that I read a lot more than the average person. Basically, I read all the time.

I read a lot of fiction for work, but I occasionally get nonfiction to work on. I seem to have a speciality for YA fiction lately. I don’t know why, but that’s what authors are sending me.

Obviously, I do my work on computer, but for pleasure, I can’t imagine not holding a book in my hands with real pages to turn. I wonder if I’ll ever get an e-reader. I like the feeling that I’m holding someone’s precious commodity. They’ve nurtured it, until it came to life in the form of words on pages.

I don’t have an extremely large collection of books. I’ve moved too often in the last 7 or 8 years to keep everything I’ve ever bought. I have the essentials. It’s a lot of ancient classics: Homer in several translations, Plato, Aristotle, Sophocles, etc., and modern classics like Eliot, Pynchon, Faulkner, and so many others.

To answer your question simply, I adore books.

I love books. I read mostly horror, notably Stephen King and Victorian vampire literature and other assorted old horror stories, but really I read a whole lot of different things.

And I hate electronic reading. Nothing like curling up in a huge puffy comforter on a rainy night to read ghost stories.

As for book stores, I much prefer individual or small used book businesses. The reason for this, aside from the books being cheaper lol, is because you never know just what you’ll find in them. I found plenty of awesome stuff in used book stores that you’ll never find at Chapters.

tangible book, small store

@Symbeline Couldn’t agree more! I also check out ebay. I bought a complete set of old hard covered Edgar Allan Poe books, all his stories and poems, and it cost me $25 including postage.

Books for a lack of a better word,,,,are good.

They go great with an old open bottle of wine and that last sheet of filo dough.

You will never see me reading a kindle or an e-book, that’s for sure, or even listening to an audiobook. For me, books are tactile, sensual things. I need the smell of glue and paper, the feel of the leaves, the heft of the object itself in my hands, my bag, and on my shelf. No harshly backlit plastic tablets for me! Give me paper and cloth! Books for me are sacred and beautiful, and meant to be felt, smelled, and heard.

I would rather grab me a blanket and curl up in my favorite chair holding a terrific book in my hands.

Love the idea of a paper book. An old one, with a nice smell. Because smell of books is everything.

I love books, especially the leather bound books they are so intricate and I love to flip through them. I read about sixy plus books a year, I just can’t get enough of books.

@Fiddle_Playing_Creole_Bastard Gaah audiobooks are horrible. I loved the ones for children when I was little, where they had that prompting sound to turn the page lol, but I say, you gotta be damn lazy to listen to an actual one lol.

@GingerMinx Right, Ebay is probbaly a great treasure trove for books I imagine. I should give it a shot, see if I can complete my Don Sebastian collection.

I myself prefer to have a good, solid book in my hands as opposed to reading off an electronic screen, but I’m privy to both. Technology for electronic reading will only get better, so one day it may rival the feel of a book. But for now, it is not so.

As for book stores, I prefer to go to independent used book stores as opposed to big chains like Barnes and Nobles. Big chains tend to offer big prices. Independent and small book stores already have a hard time as it is, what with internet and everything. I don’t feel the need to be the first owner of the book. It’s the contents inside that I’m really interested in.

I would rather read a printed book than a Kindle screen. Reading from a screen would probably do damage to the eyes, and nothing can replace the feeling of a book in your hands.

As for the second part, I prefer going to used bookstores because, as much as I like the selection at Barnes and Noble, new books have gotten wayyy too expensive. I miss the good old days when a paperback book cost $3–5 instead of $7–13, and a hardback cost no more than $20. Also, cost issues aside, used bookstores contain “buried treasure” in the form of rare or out of print books.

@Symbeline – As it relates to Ebay…I found a set of books that I had as a child which have, of course been lost over the years. The few that I have left are damaged and not very good to show. But I remember the wonder they filled me with when I was a little girl and I’d like to be able to pass that feeling along to someone else. I was lucky enough to get two sets, one in mint condition and the other as regular readers for the kids. I paid dearly for the mint set, but it is totally worth it to me. You really should check it out.

To everyone who critiqued the ereaders for their “eye-damaging” screens: they all use the same E Ink technology from the same company.

They are nothing like reading off of your overly-bright computer/laptop monitors like we are all doing right now, which over time do strain. They emulate paper incredibly well, some people claiming even more clarity than print.

Regardless of your preference, they don’t hurt at all.

@vanphan Mhmm, they have gotten a lot better recently. I’m looking forward to the more advanced versions (not to mention, cheaper!) that will come out in the near future.

Down with ebooks, kindles and the like! I love the sense and vision of completion. Books have been my best friend; in my darkest hours and my most shining moments.

I pick up one and sometime reminds me of what state of mind I was in, or is the best feeling!

Information is information regardless of what form it comes to us – what difference is there between information gathered in a book on your screen or by word of mouth? It’s still information…(bad or good info is an entirely different question…)

@Alrook I think it’s really a matter of preference. If I am learning something, I don’t really care what the medium is. However, if I’m reading a story I really prefer a book. Why? Because I like it. That’s why. It’s totally subjective. That’s why I prefer to read a story from a book, but won’t look down on the Kindle (and stuff like that.)

@Xann009 Um, I was just getting my point across, my personal preference…there is none, I just like to read, get my information and enjoy the rest of the day ^_^

@Alrook I wasn’t trying to put you down, if you got that idea! I agree with you for the most part =]

I love books, and I will never buy or use an e reader. I like a well-read audio book. As Stephen King points out, a good reader can enhance the story and even bring out appropriate nuance that surprises the author!

I especially love older, beautifully made books. I rescued a set of bright red, cloth bound, 1955 encyclopedias from the recycling center a few months ago. They are so lovely and well-cared for. The original owner had carefully added the little update stickers as information changed over the years. The pictures are so beautiful and colorful, and it is fascinating seeing how much the world and our view of it have changed. You’ll never see that in an e book!

its just silly to buy an electronic device to read a book. its STUPID. we all stare at computer screens enough and play with gadgets all day long, just give it a rest! books are beautiful and they are a dying art and this pointless invention isn’t helping.

@deni I have to disagree that it is pointless. College books cost a FORTUNE, but the E-Book versions are much, MUCH more affordable. It has it’s uses.

So many books, so little time.

I love to read.

I have to say, if they came out with a machine that simply uploaded the data into your brain…

I’d use it.

I think books offer an invaluable service. For myself, almost nothing is better than escaping life for awhile with a great fiction novel. For children, they are a wonderful teaching tool – through books kids can learn about animals, manners, geography, feelings…virtually all child appropriate topics can be found in books. Books are also a great resource for learning, though are probably becoming obselete for this purpose because of the internet. I love the interent for the instant access to info it provides, but if I am going to read something at length, I will pick a book over a computer screen everytime.

@ETpro: I agree, so many books, so little time. And I also agree with the person who posted the wonderful Groucho Marx quote.

Personally, I love books. I love the feel of a book in my hands, and I love the fact that I can curl up in bed with a book. It’s much harder to do that with an electronic reader. I have to read medical journals on the computer, but I’d much prefer a hard copy.

As for bookstores, I also love used bookstores. Particularly those with a very large sci-fi and fantasy section. Unfortunately, they’re becoming fewer and farther between. I’ve found one good one close to where I live, and I patronize it as much as possible.

@Dr_Dredd Totally agree. When it comes to reading a whole book and not just a few screens, I far prefer the old fashioned way. Curling up in bed or on the couch with laptop computer or even a Kindle just can’t compare to curling up with a real book. Not yet, anyway.

@vanphan Now that I’ve seen a friend’s new Kindle, I agree with you. The ability to adjust brightness settings and text size means that the screen may be (gasp!) more eye-friendly than books. Now I think I might like to have one someday.

@lonelydragon I haven’t tried the latest Kindle. If it’s improved that much, I am glad I ended my put-down of the electronic reader with the “Not yet, anyway” disclaimer.

Sorry, I’m still going to stick with an actual book. :-)