Real Books Here to Stay?

[Texas Star]

Saw on the news yesterday that book sales are actually up, with many readers still preferring books to Kindle etc.

That was good news for many, after all the techies predicting the end of books as we have known them.

On the downside, two Barnes & Noble stores in Ft. Worth closed recently.

Do book stores seem healthy where you live? Do you read real books?

 

[OFT II]

I read paper books every day. I can't get to sleep at night without reading first. I will hit Barnes & Nobel occasionally and they seem to be doing okay here. We have a used book store near my house that I visit often. They sell used books at half of the new price and if you return them you get half of what you paid (1/4 of new price) for them.

 

[Bat Guano]

From my cold dead hands.

 

[loknload]

Would read nothing but a real book, even prefer them to be hardbound !

 

[Texas Star]

I read paper books every day. I can't get to sleep at night without reading first. I will hit Barnes & Nobel occasionally and they seem to be doing okay here. We have a used book store near my house that I visit often. They sell used books at half of the new price and if you return them you get half of what you paid (1/4 of new price) for them.

Wow! That's better than what Half Price Books here usually pays. The other used book store I liked has closed.

 

[labworm]

I prefer books over the electronic data.

The Barnes and Noble I go to seems to be doing well, always has many people looking and buying.

But in time I think on line ordering is going to take its toll on the great bookstores.

 

[the ringo kid]

Saw on the news yesterday that book sales are actually up, with many readers still preferring books to Kindle etc.

That was good news for many, after all the techies predicting the end of books as we have known them.

On the downside, two Barnes & Noble stores in Ft. Worth closed recently.

Do book stores seem healthy where you live? Do you read real books?

Books for me especially since I do loads of historical research and I place paper notes throughout the book. The only way ill do the electronic kind--is as a novelty and maybe on a long trip somewhere?

 

[the ringo kid]

Wow! That's better than what Half Price Books here usually pays. The other used book store I liked has closed.

All the Borders and B. Dalton stores went belly up in my area years ago. Barnes and nobles thrives though.

 

[arjay]

I think a lot of us that switched to tablets are discovering how hard they are on our eyes.I'd go back to ink on paper if it was as cheap and accessible as electronic media

 

[finesse_r]

I don't want no stinking tablet or Kindle and I don't need no stinking tablet or kindle. I will sometimes read an online book on my computer, but mostly I prefer paper and print for my books.

This is especially true for reference books or technical books where I often need to scan to find something. I find the search on most digital books to be difficult to use efficiently.

But mainly I just like reading paper and print rather than some little screen.

 

[rwsmith]

One thing about books

I don't want a kindle, I want books. But I find that as they scrimp on ink, books get harder to read. Getting older doesn't help. Give me books with nice clear type.

 

[Marshwheeling]

I read several books a month. Used to be two or three a week, but my schedule precludes that these days. I have nothing against a Kindle, and I often buy online, but I also like to patronize a small local bookseller. I was unhappy that Borders went Tango Uniform, as have a number of smaller independents in recent years. My library card gets a lot of use too, the downside being that library books cannot help me decorate my house.

 

[timjake]

I read a lot, all of it printed. No "ebook" for me.

And I still get all of my periodicals in the print edition. No "digital version" for me on those either.

 

[BaldEagle1313]

All the Borders and B. Dalton stores went belly up in my area years ago. Barnes and nobles thrives though.

Same here.

While I do prefer a real book, it becomes a problem of storage space. I have boxes and boxes of books not on the shelves because the shelves are already sagging from the weight already placed on them. If it's a book that for some reason I want to keep and pass down, I'll get it in hardback and keep it. Otherwise, I really like my Kindle. Especially when traveling. There are tons of free e-books out there, and while you do have to sift through a lot of stuff you don't want to get to the stuff you do, that's no different that going to a gunshow and walking up and down every aisle. Or, if it's a new release you are looking for you can sometimes get it for less money as a Kindle download than you can get the real book, and you get it electronically in less than a minute.

If you do get an e-Reader, go to a store and see how you like the them. I got a basic Nook online and returned it the day after it came. Didn't like it at all. When I took it back to Best Buy, I went and physically handled and tested the reading interface on all the ones they had before deciding on the Kindle.

 

[labworm]

I received a fancy bookmark in 1972 as a gift, still have it and still use it.

Books are where it's at.

No screen to look at, no battery to worry about, plus I get a lot of exercise turning those pages.

I do own a iPad and it is great.

 

[cowart]

I do loads of historical research and I place paper notes throughout the book.

Kindles do exactly that - see
A Student's Guide To Using The Kindle For Research | Lifehacker Australia

 

[the ringo kid]

Same here.

While I do prefer a real book, it becomes a problem of storage space. I have boxes and boxes of books not on the shelves because the shelves are already sagging from the weight already placed on them. If it's a book that for some reason I want to keep and pass down, I'll get it in hardback and keep it. Otherwise, I really like my Kindle. Especially when traveling. There are tons of free e-books out there, and while you do have to sift through a lot of stuff you don't want to get to the stuff you do, that's no different that going to a gunshow and walking up and down every aisle. Or, if it's a new release you are looking for you can sometimes get it for less money as a Kindle download than you can get the real book, and you get it electronically in less than a minute.

If you do get an e-Reader, go to a store and see how you like the them. I got a basic Nook online and returned it the day after it came. Didn't like it at all. When I took it back to Best Buy, I went and physically handled and tested the reading interface on all the ones they had before deciding on the Kindle.

I liked the gun show analogy. I also see what you mean about space, I recently got rid about 400 paperbacks, about 60 hardcovers and a few hundred magazines. Too much space needed, many books I havent read in 30 or more years, less stuff to pack up when I move. Ill be putting my VHS collection on DvD sometime this years. Then im donating the tapes which I have about 300 left-gave about 500 away several years ago.

I dont mind having stuff but, I dont like having too much stuff. You never know how much stuff you have, until you move.

 

[the ringo kid]

Kindles do exactly that - see
A Student's Guide To Using The Kindle For Research | Lifehacker Australia

I wasnt aware of that but, I like it since it saves you from getting highlight ink all over your hands.

 

[old bear]

Do book stores seem healthy where you live? Do you read real books?

Not as many as there were 10 years ago, but we do have a nice B&N not to far from the house. And YOU BET!!

 

[Smoke]

https://www.facebook.com/hookedonbookscoloradosprings

Sitting on my book shelf right now I have a copy of Hunt for Red October that I brought down from Barr Camp on Pikes Peak the last time I went backpacking with my dog. I have a copy of The Hobbit that I stole from Millard North High School (If you're reading this Mrs. Dupree I'm sorry but you're not getting your book back) in 1980 and the rest of The Lord of the Rings that I bought in a funky little used bookstore near LACC when I lived in Hollywood.

I have a copy of Team Yankee that I found in a POL dump at Grafenwhoer, it still has oil stains and powder residue on it from the M110A2 howitzer I was shooting during that field problem.

I have a copy of We Were Soldiers Once, And Young that was given to me by the owner of Hooked on Books in Colorado Springs in appreciation for "my service to my country" when she found out I was a vet. I have a copy of On the Road I bought at a garage sale for 50 cents and several Tom Clancy Novels I bought at the Star and Stripes bookstore on Peden Barracks in the Bundes Republik Deutschland. I also have a copy of Rainbow Six from Beth Annes Books (out of Business) that I bought to replace the copy I left on A Greyhound bus that was going to Chicago.

I could probably list my entire bookshelf like that

When you can find me an Ebook that can hold memories like that I'll think about buying one