No one buys books • Hacker News Board

Re: No one buys books

#141

Post by karmakaze » Mon, Apr 22, 2024, 10:34 PM UTC

roughly wrote: post #114

yreg wrote: post #51

I recently started buying paper books. Yes, it's not particularly ecological, but I found that I'm able to focus at the text much better this way. My Kindle (despite plenty of obvious advantages) just doesn't really work for me. It took me years to realize this, but I always start to tinker with the brightness settings, switch pages back and forth, go into the book library and back, play with highlighting words, etc.…

I do the same - I far prefer paper books for reading, and mostly because it makes an enormous difference in my ability to focus. Re: the ecological side - I'm not actually convinced that a paperback book is markedly more of an ecological burden than an e-reader and the rest of the associated infrastructure. I think it's possible the e-reader pencils out in the long term, but I think a full lifecycle accounting of the…

This is not good news. I just got my first eInk reader today and first thing I did was go through all the navigation setup pages.

I have one professional development book and was going find a work of fiction to start. Hope it works out.

Re: No one buys books

#142

Post by simonblack » Mon, Apr 22, 2024, 10:34 PM UTC

Paper Books for random-access Technical Reference.

Electronic Books for General 'Beginning-to-End', or 'Story-Telling' reading.

In general, though most books can be either paper or electronic depending on personal convenience at the time. It's not a 'Black and White', 'One Thing or the Other' choice. Both formats are as good as the other if need be.

I use both. "Works for Me."

Re: No one buys books

#143

Post by lolinder » Mon, Apr 22, 2024, 10:34 PM UTC

WolfeReader wrote: post #23

Haven't libraries already been a "Netflix of books" for millenia now?

Most libraries that people have access to are more like "Disney+ for books". They have a limited selection of extremely mainstream books. If you're happy to make do with whatever they have on offer then you're fine, but if you want something specific you'll have to go out and buy it.

Back in the DVD days and before everyone broke ranks and tried to start their own service, the thing that made Netflix great was that no matter what you wanted they had it. Having no retail footprint meant they could stock everything without having to compromise. Libraries don't have that advantage.

Re: No one buys books

#144

Post by jwells89 » Mon, Apr 22, 2024, 10:35 PM UTC

WillAdams wrote: post #48

Turn it around: How much new information is there published in book form each year which the average person needs to (or wants to) read? How much leisure time does the average person choose to dedicate each year to reading? How do they decide which book(s) will be selected for this? Arguably the problem is that much of the purpose which books traditionally take up has been replaced by: - encyclopedias --- Wikipedia -…

I believe another factor is frequency of moving, because that’d disincline people from buying significant amounts of any kind of heavy and/or bulky media, of which books are both. More than a small bookshelf’s worth is a real pain to haul around.

Re: No one buys books

#145

Post by keyle » Mon, Apr 22, 2024, 10:37 PM UTC

yreg wrote: post #90

keyle wrote: post #50

The same could be said about the game industry and the music industry. 1% of the industry thrives while the rest is a sinking stone. That said I bought three books this week, but it's a rare occurrence... and I'm pretty sure they're re-printed by Amazon.

Aren't people buying more indie and early-access games than ever? Or do you mean boardgames? Those seem to be doing alright as well though.

I've made and shipped games. Just look at the 30 games that come out on steam every day of the week.

Re: No one buys books

#146

Post by tstrimple » Mon, Apr 22, 2024, 10:39 PM UTC

I wish my daughters would stop reading books (not really) so I could stop buying them all the time (happy to pay this expense). I was worried for a while because my wife and I are both voracious readers, but none of our children seemed to be developing a similar love for literature. That changed practically overnight. They went from Anime to Manga to YA lit to full blown novels in less than a year. Their tastes are still very particular, so we can't reliably go to a used book store to find things they are willing to try. But each time we go to buy them books, their selections get a little more varied than before.

The latest game is "How many books can I get?". I think they know perfectly well that I'll buy them as many books as they want because I've never told them I wouldn't buy them a book. So in a way it's them exploring their own impulsiveness and desire to consume versus what they consider to be reasonable. I always make them set their own limit. But I'm also fortunate to be a tech worker who doesn't have to even think about budgeting for books. Telling them no has never been a practical consideration here.

Re: No one buys books

#147

Post by echelon_musk » Mon, Apr 22, 2024, 10:39 PM UTC

criddell wrote: post #105

echelon_musk wrote: post #72

Earlier quoted context omitted.

The older I get the less I trust myself to know how to administer or even to care how to work any current or future reading e-device. A printed book requires light as just about it's only dependency! I definitely agree with you about the distractions of digital devices. Switching to a book is a focused mode.

The older I get, the more I appreciate being able to select a larger font with my Kindle. I love books, but the accessibility features of a modern ereader are pretty great too.

I've been putting off glasses for as long as I can. I suspect I'll return to my Kindle again in the future for this reason. It's good to be reminded that both things can coexist.

Re: No one buys books

#148

Post by zilti » Mon, Apr 22, 2024, 10:40 PM UTC

mlsu wrote: post #117

Books are a vestigial organ. Nobody uses books as their primary mode of accessing information about the world anymore. What is interesting is that the cultural mores around this vestigial organ have persisted to such a great degree. Harry Potter Books are a psycho-social mechanism of self-construction more than an actual work of fiction. The phenomenon of "I am a bookish person who reads Harry Potter" as a psychologi…

Most Harry Potter fans have never even read the books, but just seen the films, further supporting your argument

Re: No one buys books

#149

Post by matwood » Mon, Apr 22, 2024, 10:42 PM UTC

vundercind wrote: post #82

bombcar wrote: post #25

The entire book industry rides on the backs of bibles, hobbits, and extremely ravenous caterpillars. Seems almost poetic, somehow.

I gotta admit: I rarely make time for any recent fiction. Too busy catching up on the last 5,000 years. I don’t expect that to change before I die. Film has a similar problem—there are plausibly low-thousands existing films worth my time, a whole lot of them 30+ years old. I could never watch a film made after 2000 and not run out of good entertainment in my lifetime. They’re damn lucky the Mouse got copyright extend…

And if you add in TV shows, there's more great content out there than I'll ever have time to watch.

Re: No one buys books

#150

Post by Nifty3929 » Mon, Apr 22, 2024, 10:43 PM UTC

karmakaze wrote: post #141

roughly wrote: post #114

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I do the same - I far prefer paper books for reading, and mostly because it makes an enormous difference in my ability to focus. Re: the ecological side - I'm not actually convinced that a paperback book is markedly more of an ecological burden than an e-reader and the rest of the associated infrastructure. I think it's possible the e-reader pencils out in the long term, but I think a full lifecycle accounting of the…

This is not good news. I just got my first eInk reader today and first thing I did was go through all the navigation setup pages. I have one professional development book and was going find a work of fiction to start. Hope it works out.

FWIW - This (GP post) is not my experience with eReaders. Not sure if they have the eInk one or not (like the Fire or tablet ones), but I have the eInk sort.

Anyway, I really like it because it's far lighter weight than a paperback, easier to hold, and I can have like the entire library on there and take it with me. I don't experience the distraction that they are referring to, because there's really not anything else to do except read my book. How much time can I spend on settings? Browsing my library? As far as brightness I leave it alone mostly and don't think about it unless it's irritatingly one way or the other.

I have no idea what "navigation setup pages" are - I've been through several different Kindles and I pretty much just take them out of the box and start reading. There's nothing to "set up" outside of logging into my Amazon account.

Anyway, I hope you enjoy it!