Ask PG: Do you still own books?

#1

Post by graeme » Fri, Aug 30, 2013, 4:38 PM UTC

I read "Stuff" recently. I've been steadily shedding possessions, and am happier for it.

Books were the notable exception in your essay. They're my exception too.

Since you wrote the essay, many have switched to e-books. Did you? If you did switch, why did you?

http://www.paulgraham.com/stuff.html

Re: Ask PG: Do you still own books?

#2

Post by graeme » Fri, Aug 30, 2013, 4:58 PM UTC

Anyone else feel free to comment, especially if you were a paper book lover but switched.

Re: Ask PG: Do you still own books?

#3

Post by andy_adams » Fri, Aug 30, 2013, 5:09 PM UTC

I mow my lawn with a manual push mower, I don't own a smartphone and I still prefer paper books. Our society is moving towards a constantly-connected life, but I'll go out on a limb and say it's good for the soul to get away from electronics completely every so often. That's why I'll (probably) never give up paper books.

Re: Ask PG: Do you still own books?

#4

Post by adamnemecek » Fri, Aug 30, 2013, 5:13 PM UTC

I've tried to switch completely to e-books but when the content get technical, I still find paper books a lot easier to read (probably since you can go back and forth easier than with e-books).

Re: Ask PG: Do you still own books?

#5

Post by LoganCale » Fri, Aug 30, 2013, 5:16 PM UTC

andy_adams wrote: post #3

I mow my lawn with a manual push mower, I don't own a smartphone and I still prefer paper books. Our society is moving towards a constantly-connected life, but I'll go out on a limb and say it's good for the soul to get away from electronics completely every so often. That's why I'll (probably) never give up paper books.

I disagree. I think it's good to get away from being constantly connected all the time, but that doesn't inherently exclude ebooks. Ebooks are just a convenience for me, and I can take my entire book collection everywhere with me on my Kindle, with tremendous battery life, and a built in light so I can read at night.

Re: Ask PG: Do you still own books?

#6

Post by LoganCale » Fri, Aug 30, 2013, 5:19 PM UTC

graeme wrote: post #2

Anyone else feel free to comment, especially if you were a paper book lover but switched.

I exclusively read ebooks now, but I still like some paper books as well. So now I just collect ones in print that I really like.

Re: Ask PG: Do you still own books?

#7

Post by joshbert » Fri, Aug 30, 2013, 5:21 PM UTC

The problem is that I like to read a lot. Usually a book per week, so I keep almost everything in eBook form.

As a consequence, my personal approach is to only keep up to 5 physical books at any given time. Basically I buy the book in eBook form and if I like it a lot - like really, really love it, I can order a physical copy. At that point, I should have already made the decision of which one of my 5 physical books is going to get donated to make space for this one.

I hate clutter and my best work is done in focused and clean environments, so that's why I do this.

Re: Ask PG: Do you still own books?

#8

Post by tjr » Fri, Aug 30, 2013, 5:23 PM UTC

I've made little headway into ebooks, for a number of reasons: a lot of the books I want to read are not available in electronic form; a lot of the books I want to read I already own paper copies of, and I feel little incentive to buy them again; I find that I usually prefer reading in paper form rather than electronic form, especially for anything longer than a couple of pages or so.

That said, I have recently read several novels on my phone, and found that to be a surprisingly pleasant and effective way to read fiction.

Alas, the recent disclosures have fanned the flames of personal privacy and free software idealism in my thinking, reducing what little fondness I had grown for ebooks.

Re: Ask PG: Do you still own books?

#9

Post by nicklovescode » Fri, Aug 30, 2013, 5:24 PM UTC

Not really. Traveling for the last few months my kindle has been a godsend. No desire now that I'm back to get the physical alternative.

Re: Ask PG: Do you still own books?

#10

Post by Zigurd » Fri, Aug 30, 2013, 5:58 PM UTC

One problem with programming books is that code listings are not well formatted. Paging through a code listing on paper is not ideal. But it is usually even less ideal paging through a listing in an e-book format.

E-books should be better than print. They should have at least scrolling code, syntax coloring, and and updates straight out of repos.