Thursday, April 14, 2011

Booking through Personality

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Up until recently, people could browse your bookshelves and learn a lot about you–what your interests are, your range of topics, favorite authors, how much you read (or at least buy books).

More and more, though, this is changing. People aren’t buying books so much as borrowing them from the library. Or reading them on their e-readers or computers. There’s nothing PHYSICAL on the shelves to tell strangers in your home, for better or worse, who you ARE.

Do you think this is a good thing? Bad? Discuss!

I am a "physical" book reader. I like to touch, smell, feel my books. And their presence in my shelves calm me, soothe me somehow. That is a plus for me. The minus is, too many books and no space.

E-books don't require physical space and you can carry hundreds of e-books in your e-reader (No, I don't own one as yet!). I have started to read e-books on my PC using the Kindle for PC. However, I can't read for long. Yet I find that I can manage to steal in few pages while working on my computer. E-books also help us save us the Environment. That is a positive! 

Books do speak about us and I really get a kick when people comment about me after looking at my book shelves! However, most people have no idea of genre, non-readers, that is. Those who do, I meet in the book blog world. And it does not matter to them anyone reading a "physical" book or an 'e-book".

Having said all that, give me paper books any day! I am NOT likely to stop buying those!

15 comments:

Pam (@iwriteinbooks) said...

I think, for me, my books do say a lot about me and I like that I'm the person everyone asks when they need to read a book they know I have. On the same level, economic concerns drive me to the library and ecological concerns have turned me toward e-books (a little bit...)

Mason Canyon said...

I enjoy physical books more too. I don't have an e-reader but I do also read some on my computer. It takes longer for me to read a book on my computer than if I can carry it with me and read in my spare moments. I know e-readers have advantages but I don't want to lose my print books.

Mason
Thoughts in Progress

Gigi Ann said...

I don't have an e-reader yet, and doubt I will have one anytime soon. I love my visits to the bookstores or book sections in other stores. Just yesterday, I bought 4 books. Do they talk about my personality, I don't know.

Jessica ( frellathon ) said...

My book shelves are over flowing I could use another in fact. I'm trying to keep it controllable by borrowing from the library a lot but still I have books that I just need. I don't care for ereaders. I've gone to a book store and as soon as I entered I was attacked with the whole ereader buy it it's the new big thing. I just backed away and pointed to a pile of books and said that ( the ereader ) will never replace that ( physical books ) She got all huffy and said it's just another way to read we're not trying to replace it. I told her I don't care it's not the same I will never go over to ereading. I'm set in my ways and technology just can't replace some things books are one of them.

KarenSi said...

I prefer the feel of physical books. There is nothing like browsing through books in a bookshop or a library. Amazon and its like just aren't the same.

Anonymous said...

I, too, have started running out of room on my shelves, and have turned to ebooks because of it.
Nothing beats owning a physical copy of a book, but I'd like to actually be able to walk around in my house, haha.

Pretentious Wombat said...

When I walk into someone's home, the first thing I notice is the bookshelves (or lack of them). Then, I peruse titles to see if we have similar tastes. How, I ask you, can you possibly do this with bare shelves and an e-reader sitting there instead? Mark me down as a luddite if you want but I'm sticking to my guns and resisting the electronic reader fad.

Anonymous said...

I agree, I like the physical book in my hands.

Sally said...

I love my kindle but it took me quite a while to get used to it and I still buy loads of real life books and probably always will.
Sally.
http://theelifylop.blogspot.com/2011/04/booking-through-thursday-13.html

bermudaonion said...

Even though I prefer a physical book, I think it's fine if people want to use an eReader. There are times when they make perfect sense.

DawnTreader said...

I like being surrounded by books but I can see the advantages of e-books as well. I haven't yet got a Kindle or similar but I like the fact that so many really old books have been made available by the internet.

Mike said...

Physical books have been around for thousands of years and have a permanency that e-books will never have. How long do you think digital books will last into the future of mankind? They are ethereal and easily erased, leaving no trace behind.

Harvee said...

I borrow library books, read them on a Kindle, AND have books on my shelves as well. I think people who read a lot will always have real books to call their own as well.

Anonymous said...

Totally agree! There is something about being surrounded by books that makes a house feel like a home, a certain comfort level. I don't have an e-reader but know that I will break down someday.

Julie said...

I'm also fonder of physical books. I like being able to walk to my shelves and pull out a book that's been calling to me. The main advantage I see to readers is the portability if you are traveling and want to "carry" a few books with you. I don't have a reader yet, but I will probably buy one if I get back into a mode where I'm doing a lot of traveling.