Ebook or Real Book

[Draginon he/him]

Which form of book do you prefer?

Me I prefer a real physical book because I like feeling it in my hands, I can easily flip back to look at the map to get my bearings and then there's the unmistakable smell of a new book.

I don't do ebook because I lose focus more easily and start skipping things or read the same sentence over and over. When I got the free sample of The Eye of the World to read the additional Egwene prologue I had to force myself to read it because of these problems and reading isn't fun if I have to force myself to do it.

[Snipexe he/him]

I personally like both equally, because one, I can have a bunch of Sanderson books with me, without having to carry like a fifty pound bag, but there is still something awesome about just holding the book in your hand.

[Ammanas]

I prefer the physical book, but imagine I would like the e-books better if I had a e-reader that somewhat mimics a real book (like the kindle paperwhite or something similar). They seem to have a lot of cool features like searching for specific words, looking up definitions by clicking on it etc.

[Snipexe he/him]

That's what I have ( a kindle paperwhite) and it is really like the only way to read ebooks.

[Erandeni he/him]

I like more real books, for me are easier to read or look for a specific part, but I use ebook more often because I don't have many space for books and usually they are cheaper.

[Guest]

I tend to prefer physical, but ever since my husband bought me a kindle, I am really liking it. Thus, I will continue buying physical copies of books I really enjoy, but the rest goes onto my kindle.

[Sunbird she/her]

I prefer my Kindle for the portability and ease of carrying a whole library with me, but I still buy plenty of "real" books to get them signed or to finish out a series that I've already bought the first few in paper. Maps and illustrations are easier to look at in physical books, so that's a minus for the Kindle.

[Julio]

I prefer physical books, and will thus read them whenever convenient, but my kindle is often much more convenient. So, I'll use either, but buy physical copies of my favourite books. 

[king of nowhere]

I used to prefer physical books until a few years ago. They just feel better in my hands, and they are moore comfortable to flip pages.

Then I learned that I can balancce my laptop on top of my chest/belly while laying on my bed, and soon enough it became the only way I could use a pc. I even learned to fast type and do other complicated stuff with my hands in such awkward position. Anyway, that became my new favourite reading position, especially in cold wiinter nights; feeling the heat of the pc and keeping your whole body underneath the bed sheets (including the hand holding the mouse, which you use to scroll pages) is incredibly relaxing, and I can do it for hours without discomfort. While all my favourite positions to read a paper book become uncomfortable after about half an hour.

Despite that, when I can choose, I still read the paper book. There's just something extra about holding stuff with my hands. But reading from my laptop is a close second.

[Briar King]

Being that I don't own any type of ereader I'm a fan of dead trees. I probably should invest cause space is getting tight for sure.

i did read Lost Tribe of the Sith on my iPhone 4S and it was very challenging on that 3in screen. I'm sure my 7+ would be muccchhh better.

[Leiasqz she/her]

I used to think that the only way I could read was a real book. And I still prefer that, but now that space is running out for books in our home, I've started buying more and more "new tries" on my Kindle (or with Audible).

Also, with everything Amazon has done lately with shared libraries across ebooks and audiobooks (which means me and my boyfriend don't have to buy everything twice anymore), and with reading/listening on various devices once you've bought the book (which means that if I forget my Kindle at home I can still pick up where I left off either on my phone or a computer screen), I'm getting more and more sold on the whole deal.

But still, I will buy everything from my favourite authors in physical form and rather remove everything else in the end if space runs out.

[StormyQueen she/her]

While I prefer real books, travelling a lot has somewhat forced me to like e-books if I want to read. I don't mind them, but when you're in a country where you will find approximately 1 bookstore in the town that sells interesting fiction in English, you must make the choice...

While the feeling and smell of real books is nice, and I still have heaps (too many. There is no more space), but having e-books is so much lighter and easy to use...

[Calderis he/him]

I grew up reading every book I could get my hands on, so for lots and lots of reasons I'll always prefer a physical book for the enjoyment factor. 

Ebooks definitely have their place though. Especially for researching (Brandon's) books. The search and notation functions are extremely useful. 

I currently only have tWoK and SH on kindle, and would like a copy of everything there just for ease of research.

You can't really sign an ebook though. 

[+Slowswift]

2 hours ago, Calderis said:

You can't really sign an ebook though. 

No, but both Kindles I've owned have been signed by the Great Sanderson himself.  

[Calderis he/him]

2 minutes ago, Slowswift said:

No, but both Kindles I've owned have been signed by the Great Sanderson himself.  

I don't own a kindle. I don't really feel like having him sign my phone. 

[+Slowswift]

Just now, Calderis said:

I don't own a kindle. I don't really feel like having him sign my phone. 

Fair. 

[DSC01 he/him]

I prefer physical, but I'll read any format. I read WoR in its entirety on my phone once. I think I read most of White Sand on a desktop screen, from Word, the first time I read it (maybe that was Aether... or both, maybe).

[Maureen Straka]

Personally, I read paper books because I like it physical feelings of reading, but in some situation would be better take one device with hundred novels when hundred books.

Edited August 10, 2017 by Maureen Straka