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Chopping up books when they're physically too big

attainablefelicity.mattkirkland.com

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Re: Chopping up books when they're physically too big

#131

Post by bigstrat2003 »

spudlyo wrote: post #20

This seems like a lot of work for not a huge payoff. I get that the feel and experience of a physical book has a certain nostalgia, but for me, I'd just leave the big monster on the shelf and grab an epub from Anna's Archive. You have already ensured the author and publisher get paid, you might as well read on an e-reader, which is in my opinion superior in nearly every way to a physical book. Ebooks sync across devi…

Not one of the things you mentioned about ebooks actually interests me. On the other hand, physical books are more comfortable to read, enjoyable to hold in your hands and flip the pages, don't ever run out of charge, and look nice when you put them on a shelf. For me, they are vastly superior to ebooks.

I say all this not to try to convince you that you're wrong (it's all a matter of taste after all), but to point out that this isn't just nostalgia. People who read physical books actually prefer them, even if their reasons aren't things you find important.

Re: Chopping up books when they're physically too big

#134

Post by bigstrat2003 »

moffkalast wrote: post #46
SmasherEpilepti wrote: post #4

At that rate, you might as well buy and use an e-reader instead. It really doesn't get any more comfortable in the hands than a light device like a Kobo or whatever one you prefer.

And you don't even have to hold it open and mess with bookmarks which at least to me was always super annoying. And the built in lamp, chapter search and dictionary. And single tap page forward and back. Physical books are beyond obsolete imho.

I don't care about chapter search, nor a dictionary. I actively dislike tapping to change pages, it is far less pleasant than turning a page. Physical books are not obsolete, you just don't like them. Which is fine, everyone has a preference. But it's kind of grating when people use the term "obsolete" which implies that one solution is objectively superior to the other, rather than both having a different experience which some might prefer.

Re: Chopping up books when they're physically too big

#137

Post by marcus_holmes »

lolakutty wrote: post #69
spudlyo wrote: post #20

This seems like a lot of work for not a huge payoff. I get that the feel and experience of a physical book has a certain nostalgia, but for me, I'd just leave the big monster on the shelf and grab an epub from Anna's Archive. You have already ensured the author and publisher get paid, you might as well read on an e-reader, which is in my opinion superior in nearly every way to a physical book. Ebooks sync across devi…

>which is in my opinion superior in nearly every way to a physical book. A physical book, you encounter in physical space. Thus has a lot more chance to get read. The ebook, one has to take a device and press some button, before the book has even a chance of getting seen... My ebooks typically get downloaded once, and sits forever unread in some device.. A physical book, I take from a lib and gets read automatically,…

I have the reverse. I have a tiny e-reader that fits in my pocket next to my phone. I pull that out instead of doomscrolling on the phone, so I read on trains, on the toilet, etc. It's much more convenient than carrying a dead-tree book around. So I'm way more likely to read a book as an epub.

Re: Chopping up books when they're physically too big

#138

Post by sriram_malhar »

I just did this for the first time.

I lost interest in programming for pleasure (thank you LLMs), so decided to spend a few years learning all the prerequisites to understand the General Theory of Relativity.

It is so nice to get back to learning from printed matter. The contrast is great. The ability to flip pages back and forth to scan past material is much better than an ebook experience (like referring to a figure on a different page). Best of all, I don't get distracted or tempted to open up a browser window and start doomscrolling. The heft is oddly reassuring too.

Re: Chopping up books when they're physically too big

#139

Post by onecommentman »

_carbyau_ wrote: post #103
ventura49 wrote: post #58

I feel like we’ve been hit by one of Michael O. Church’s troll agents. 1. Obsession with massive books. 2. High-value target (this community.) 3. Obviously bad idea that some people will treat as an earnest suggestion. 4. Oblique commentary on bad behavior by AI companies (destructive scanning of rare books.)

At it's heart, this post is: if you own it, do what you want with it. For a big book, cutting it up might be desired. Even though book lovers everywhere decry such a move, it's their book. Obviously there is zero resale value for the book, but I have never sold a book I owned so that wouldn't bother me.

I have, on two occasions, actually tossed a book in the trash rather than have someone else stumble upon it. Arguably worse than physical mutilation and I consider myself a book lover.

And, for several others, I have physically cut out and disposed of offending chapters or introductions using the same physical technique as the article suggests. Deeply emotionally satisfying, and not an option available for DRM e-books, as far as I know. And again, a book lover.

Re: Chopping up books when they're physically too big

#140

Post by monkpit »

shevy-java wrote: post #50
NoahZuniga wrote: post #30

Earlier quoted context omitted.

This post isn't aimed at people that read a physical book for "nostalgia". They read a lot of books and have already decided that they prefer physical books to an ereader.

That makes no sense to me though. I always prefer physical books to any ereader, but I still stopped accumulating (new) books in my flat - they just accumulate space. I'll always love hardcopy books, but not needing them as a physical hardcopy is just better for me.

Why can’t someone else have a different opinion than you, even if it doesn’t make sense to you?
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