Death of the Bookshop

[Bribie G]

Sad to see the last of our book shops closing in town. However I had an eye opener and a definite glimpse of the future last week.

Friend has given me a Kindle. At first I imagined it to be a glorified tablet, ho hum. However I've fallen in love with the thing, it's got an incredible "electronic paper" screen that's just like reading a high quality printed page, it's perfect to read in bright sunlight at the beach, try doing that with a tablet, and heaps of features like taking you back to whatever page you were last on with any book, arrangement of titles into bookshelves, choice of fonts and sizes, etc.

Now as for book shops, for nearly a year now I've been trying to track down a copy of Harry Harrison's "West of Eden", the first of the trilogy. I have #2 and #3 in paperback but cannot source on Book Depository or any new or second hand book shops. Sitting on the dunny the other day reading the Kindle, the penny dropped so I did a search. Got it, hit "buy" and fifteen seconds... that's right fifteen seconds later I was reading the book.

I already own two copies of the Lord of the Rings trilogy, but got the Kindle version ...

Impressed.

 

[Dave70]

Not to mention all the now redundant book shelf makers.

 

[LiquidGold]

I can understand and appreciate the pros of using a kindle but personally I still prefer to read a physical book, which reminds me I'm yet to post in the 'What are you reading' thread.

 

[welly2]

I've got a kindle too. I use it on and off - not as much as I should because it is a brilliant thing. Not quite sure why some people prefer actual books - a kindle is just another mechanism for transporting words and paragraphs. That said, I did buy a physical book the other week from a 2nd hand book stall at the market. I'd probably do that again as it was only a couple of bucks. But buying a brand new book that is available in eBook format? I honestly can't see myself buying new physical books any more. They take up room and you can only have one or two with you at a time.

 

[wide eyed and legless]

Use my kindle everyday, something I didn't know for a while Bribie, if your not sure of what a word means just touch it and the meaning comes up, I was googling words for a while there.
The only other downside is you can't give your books to the opp shop.

 

[Florian]

Imagine your friend would have given you one of the newest kobo readers (it's like the craft beer of ebook readers), then you could really read it on the beach without worrying about dust and salt water getting into it.
It also wouldn't limit you to amazon content or annoying workarounds.

As for book, I do enjoy reading novel style books on my kobo because it's easier to hold in one hand, but books that are trying to teach me something I still prefer in old book form as it's way easier to flick through to the page you are looking for.

 

[real_beer]

I've had Kindle 'Free 3G + WiFi' for 5 years, they're fantastic little devices, I bought mine from Amazon in the US and have always been impressed by its performance. There's a huge catalogue of free books to download including all the classics, in fact you can download so much free stuff you don't need to spend any money at all. One of the best features available is the book sample you can download to check out any book your thinking about buying too see if you like it. Even if you pay and download a book and later change your mind Amazon refund the payment and remove it from your Kindle automatically. Any book you ever buy is available to download from their servers forever, and if a book is ever edited or corrected you have the choice to update your copy. I fell asleep late afternoon one day while reading on the bed and unfortunately when my wife came in to wake me up for dinner she leaned on it and cracked the screen. Amazon sent me a brand new Kindle for $40 when I told them and sent it back. I'd paid $189 for mine when I bought it 18 months earlier. I've always had only five star service from Amazon since I first used them, I've bought Kindles, guitars, Audible membership for Kindle, clothes blah, blah, blah. Also the battery lasts for about a month between charges if you have the wi-fi turned off.
And like Bribie G mentions you could be listening to a brewing podcast that mentions a good book, or hear someone talking about the latest best seller and a minute later you could be reading it on the bus or train.

I still love real books but the Kindle is so light to hold up lying in bed it's amazing, and you can take thousands of books on the road with you in one little package when you travel. Some books however are terribly formatted for the Kindle and don't look good so don't be afraid to return them for a refund. Dr Charlie Bamforth warned people on one of the BeerSmith Podcasts not to buy a certain one of his books in Kindle format because it was so bad and poorly formatted.

My favourite series of books is 'The Girl With The Dragon Tattoo' by Stieg Larsson, I downloaded the first and couldn't stop reading it, then the second and third. I couldn't have read them in bed in paper form my puny old muscles couldn't have lifted them up long enough to read more than a page :lol:

One of my favourite movies of all time is 'One Flew Over The Cuckoo's Nest', I thought it was so well done that nothing could top the story the way the actors had presented it. THEN I READ THE BOOK!
If available get a copy of of the book your favourite movie is based on and read it, I've found the book always ends up leaving the movie in its wake by a very big margin. And as TV programming has once again reached dizzying new heights of crap and bullshit this year to further mesmerise and brainwash a moronic audience of peanut brained dimwits, do yourselves a favour and pick up a good book, any book, paper or electronic and have an enjoyable time reading it, you wont be sorry you did.

 

[fraser_john]

anyone with teenage children know a couple of things:

• Free to air tv - dead
• Printed materials (ANY FORM!) - dead
• Landscape videos - dead

If I owned stock in any of the Aussie broadcasters, I'd be dumping them as fast as I could.

 

[sp0rk]

I'm a comic reader and while I get digital copies every now and then, nothing beats paper hard copies
Good to see comic book stores are still going strong

 

[real_beer]

I much prefer good quality paper reference books myself and have bookcases full of them, but for novels and audio books the kindle or other eBook readers really come into their own.

Having said that the lavatory area is a no go zone for my kindle and phone, so the old hard-copy definitely rules in that kingdom :huh: . And if your a rare book collector the kindle totally misses out along with potentially valuable autographed copies :lol:

 

[Ducatiboy stu]

I still like reading Newspapers ( except The Daily Telegraph..its just shit ). There is something about being able to to flick back and forth thru it while having a beer at the pub

I also like to read magazines, for the same reason

Its sad that book shops are disappearing as I like to see my kids read real books. Although our local library is hugely popular ( and brand new )

 

[real_beer]

I still like reading Newspapers ( except The Daily Telegraph..its just shit ).

Crikey, you couldn't even use it in the bog, it'd just make wiping up a messier process than not wiping at all. That's one thing I definitely don't miss from my youth, the dreaded strips of newspaper hanging on the wall!!!!!! :blink:

 

[dark_brew]

I fall into the categories of 5 + years ebook reader, however I still very much prefer having written material - particularly any form of reference book.

There is something about reading a paper copy and somehow subconsciously taking more material from it.......this is difficult to explain, but hang with me; when reading a paper copy, if there is a certain quote I like, I know if it was at the top, bottom, left or right hand side of the page...and whereabouts in the book it was. So it takes me not long at all to go back to it and find it, or when thinking about it - this information helps my memory recall it - without REALLY knowing where it was in the book, you just sort of know....Same can be said of whole passages, important parts of story's, and obviously this apply's continually to any reference material, this is not possible on a book read on a kindle...On another note, I can read whole books on the kindle, finish it, enjoy it, and still not know what the bloody thing was called, or who the author was - you do not see that front cover every time you put the book down. When I recall REAL books of my past i've enjoyed, my memory seems to link it to the book covers, so I first see the cover (in my mind), then i remember the author, then I remember the sections of the story I liked, and where they were in relation to the book...I do wonder in future if i'll really remember anything i read on the kindle.

My main worry with this is that when you give a kindle to someone who does not read very much - or is just learning to read, they will struggle / not be so hooked on reading because your subconscious mind cannot act in this way on a kindle. Perhaps for prolific readers they do not mind so much....but for others? Anyway call my a hypocrite as heaps of my hard cash still ends up in Amazons pockets each year.

And its certainly no replacement for children's books!