How Big Are Your Libraries?

[DrBloodmoney1]

Completely hypothetical here:

I have thousands of books on my computer. I have around 1000 on the shelves. But books aren't easily transported, especially hardbacks. But I have my trusty PDA which goes everywhere with me. I can easily fit a thousand books on my PDA between two memory cards. And it fits in my pocket. I'm a highly mobile person. I'm almost never at home. Therefore, I must read on my PDA.

I always have a copy of the books I read on my PDA sitting on my shelves. Because I don't like to read from the PDA when I'm at home. I read from the papercopy. But I can't put that in my pocket. That's where the pda comes in.

 

[Erfael]

I myself frown upon even paid for e-books. People always challenge that, and I think it's ridiculous that they would. NO e-books do NOT bring books to new audiances, NO e-books are NOT protecting litterature, and NO e-books are NOT practical. The written word is sacred, and there is little I wouldn't do to protect it from our endless modern bullsh!t. Computers have their place and purpose and it certainly isn't with books. And gah if any of you jump down my throat, I'm just not going to respond. This is a forum for open discussion and different opinions. Diplomacy works quite nicely.

I'm with you, Shan.

Completely hypothetical here:

I have thousands of books on my computer. I have around 1000 on the shelves. But books aren't easily transported, especially hardbacks. But I have my trusty PDA which goes everywhere with me. I can easily fit a thousand books on my PDA between two memory cards. And it fits in my pocket. I'm a highly mobile person. I'm almost never at home. Therefore, I must read on my PDA.

I always have a copy of the books I read on my PDA sitting on my shelves. Because I don't like to read from the PDA when I'm at home. I read from the papercopy. But I can't put that in my pocket. That's where the pda comes in.

And a (well, several) completely honest question(s) here:

What happens if your hard drive fries? What do you do when you change computers? Will these e-books be with you forever? How about when they come out with all new kinds of e-readers and your books are no longer compatable with them? There are just some questions that I have asked myself every time I've even thought about the e-format and just one of the reasons why I can't do it.

I feel much better having my books in a nice stable, physical form. I tried reading one on a PDA and I hated it. Just not cut out to stare at backlit words...my eyes have enough problems as is without my putting them through that.

 

[DrBloodmoney1]

Talking about data back-up there are countless ways to do it. I have an external harddrive that I backup my entire PC to once per week. This is the PC that I keep all of my most used digital files on. I have a cheap box that I run linux on that sits on my lan that I use as network storage. It sits in a closet with no monitor, but it has 350GB of HD space. I backup all my digital stuff there once/twice a month.

I have a lot of digital files that I would be crushed if I lost them. But the beauty and curse of the internet is that it's all up there still. Copyrighted/non-copyrighted alike. If you put out any sort of intellectual property and it is anywhere near popular, I will guarantee it is on the internet/irc/bittorrent/etc somewhere.

So if I had the misfortune to have 3 PC's and 5-6 harddrives go out on me simultaneously, I could, were I so inclined, have it all back in a month or two. However, I have a lot of movies and pictures that are irreplaceable because I took them, hence my crazy storage situation. It's a bit extreme, but most households have at least two-three computers these days. And storage is cheap, and so is networking your computers. And relatively easy to do.

As for reading with backlit words, there are several programs that are very good for reading. I would never read off of a text editor like pocket word, etc. I personally love uBook. It is free and highly customizable. HERE IS A LINK

I tend to read off of a whiter skin during the day and a black one at nighttime. I love to turn off the lights (don't disturb the wife) and read in the dark. Plus I can read lying on my back (never enough light with papercopies) and it flips the pages for me.

Here is what it looks like:

daytime

night

 

[DrBloodmoney1]

I myself frown upon even paid for e-books. People always challenge that, and I think it's ridiculous that they would. NO e-books do NOT bring books to new audiances, NO e-books are NOT protecting litterature, and NO e-books are NOT practical. The written word is sacred, and there is little I wouldn't do to protect it from our endless modern bullsh!t. Computers have their place and purpose and it certainly isn't with books. And gah if any of you jump down my throat, I'm just not going to respond. This is a forum for open discussion and different opinions. Diplomacy works quite nicely.

I'm not going to jump down your throat. I will kindly disagree with you. E-books are very practical in my life. I am in a profession where I have several spans of 20-30 mins per day where I'm essentially doing nothing. Before I found ebooks, I would waste these periods of time. It wasn't convenient to bring a book, and probably would be frowned upon at any rate. Now I can sit and read and then when I need to go, I put the PDA back in my pocket and I'm happy. I can also listen to music while I read which is nice.

It's also very convenient if I find myself wanting to read in a low-light environment.

I generally like to think of my PDA as a book that can play music, surf the internet, get my email, carry my calendar, be a dictionary, and carry a library of stuff. And it all fits in my pocket.

That being said I love to read paper copies... they're just not always practical. And they sure are a pain to move *looks at 24 boxes of hardback books and sighs*

 

[Shanoncia]

How lazy has the world become if a single book is too inconvenient???

And come on love, if someone is going to frown upon you for having an interest in litterature... ha! Who the hell cares about them?

A PDA is fine for internet access sure... but that's about it in my opinion.

And a low light enviroment? What!? Are people two lazy to flip a switch or light a candel now? Just seems silly to me...

 

[Talvalin]

And come on love, if someone is going to frown upon you for having an interest in litterature... ha! Who the hell cares about them?

I think DrBloodMoney1 was specifically referring to a work/office situation, where pulling out a book and reading for those 20 minutes would be a Bad Thing, despite the fact that he (I'm assuming here) cannot do any work for that period of time. Remember, appearences are everything! I have no idea what DrBloodMoney1's profession is, but I am a programmer and I occasionally have such moments where I am at a loose end and I would love to be able to read, except I know for a fact that one former colleague who read books whilst building code was made redundant for that reason (among others).]

As for low-light environments, I've found myself stuck in many clubs wishing that I had something to read to stave off boredom (I just hate dancing you see).

 

[Beleg]

Shanoncia posted,

NO e-books do NOT bring books to new audiances, NO e-books are NOT protecting litterature, and NO e-books are NOT practical.

Intresting, E-books played a major role in getting me into literature as well as providing me access to books that I couldn't otherwise obtain. I am specially thankful to fanfiction.net and Project Guntenburg for that.
As for being practical, well I have been reading ebooks from about four years and I haven't yet notice a visible decline in my eyesite. True, it might be that the raditions emitted by the screen have longterm effects or something like that but as long as I feel myself fit and hale, I will continue reading ebooks. In remoter countries like Pakistan, mainstream fiction is hard to obtain, and Fantasy even harder. Buying books through Amazon or Ebay is beyond the means of a student like me due to the devaluation of our currency and lack of service in these parts. Old bookshops are far and few and the only fantasy books easily avalable are Stephen King's DarkTower, Tolkien's LOTR and Hobbit and Edith Nesbit's works. It costs a lot [In Pakistani currency] to buy even a paperback of say, George RR Martin's sizeable novels. Under these circumstances the only practical course left for me is to turn my attention towards ebooks.

It often happens that practicability has often to do with the circumstances people live in, and for me, to pursue my intrest in literature, turning towards ebooks is the only way. [Well, until I become rich enough to buy text copies, granted I try to obtain the hardcopy of everybook I have read, but the number of such books is sadly few]

 

[ShadowKnight]

I have a small one, only 50-60 books right now.

 

[knivesout]

Shan, you should check out Plato's views on writing. He feared it would make people intellectually lazy, as they no longer had to remember all they had learned but could look it up. Heck, the written word has gradually killed the art of oral storytelling.

the only true thing about change is that it is inevitable.

Having said that, I favour physical books personally.

 

[Shanoncia]

I think DrBloodMoney1 was specifically referring to a work/office situation, where pulling out a book and reading for those 20 minutes would be a Bad Thing, despite the fact that he (I'm assuming here) cannot do any work for that period of time. Remember, appearences are everything! I have no idea what DrBloodMoney1's profession is, but I am a programmer and I occasionally have such moments where I am at a loose end and I would love to be able to read, except I know for a fact that one former colleague who read books whilst building code was made redundant for that reason (among others).]

As for low-light environments, I've found myself stuck in many clubs wishing that I had something to read to stave off boredom (I just hate dancing you see).

Well perhaps if he's reading while he should be working, he's not suited to the job. But I'm sure that's not the case. No boss would frown upon somebody for reading in their spare time. That's nonsense. And as for image, reading is a sign of intelligence. I certainly would have to DISAGREE with you when it comes to appearances. I could NEVER even imagine that they are remotely important. And anyone who judges me by how I "appear" certainly isn't worth my time... and debatedly perhaps isn't worth the space they take is this overloaded world.

Now dear... don't go to clubs! They are nasssty places loaded with the whores of society! Nay, you're much to good for that. Besides, no point going somewhere you hate.

Intresting, E-books played a major role in getting me into literature as well as providing me access to books that I couldn't otherwise obtain. I am specially thankful to fanfiction.net and Project Guntenburg for that.
As for being practical, well I have been reading ebooks from about four years and I haven't yet notice a visible decline in my eyesite. True, it might be that the raditions emitted by the screen have longterm effects or something like that but as long as I feel myself fit and hale, I will continue reading ebooks. In remoter countries like Pakistan, mainstream fiction is hard to obtain, and Fantasy even harder. Buying books through Amazon or Ebay is beyond the means of a student like me due to the devaluation of our currency and lack of service in these parts. Old bookshops are far and few and the only fantasy books easily avalable are Stephen King's DarkTower, Tolkien's LOTR and Hobbit and Edith Nesbit's works. It costs a lot [In Pakistani currency] to buy even a paperback of say, George RR Martin's sizeable novels. Under these circumstances the only practical course left for me is to turn my attention towards ebooks.

It often happens that practicability has often to do with the circumstances people live in, and for me, to pursue my intrest in literature, turning towards ebooks is the only way. [Well, until I become rich enough to buy text copies, granted I try to obtain the hardcopy of everybook I have read, but the number of such books is sadly few]

I think saying that e-books are all you can afford is a tad ridiculous... You need some sort of computers to view these e-books, not to mention internet access and that in itself far outways the cost of books, even in Pakistan!!!!

Shan, you should check out Plato's views on writing. He feared it would make people intellectually lazy, as they no longer had to remember all they had learned but could look it up. Heck, the written word has gradually killed the art of oral storytelling.

True, and I promise to do so as soon as the opportunity presents itself. I'll let you know what I think!

 

[JohnH]

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[Beleg]

Shanoncia posted,

I think saying that e-books are all you can afford is a tad ridiculous... You need some sort of computers to view these e-books, not to mention internet access and that in itself far outways the cost of books, even in Pakistan!!!!

e-books aren't all I can afford. But ebooks are easily avalable and cheap, contrary to hardcopies.
These a large difference between the price of a computer in Pakistan and USA. You can get an average computer for $200 and a state of the art one for as low as $500. Compare that to a hardcover that may cost $10 to $20 and more plus shipping charges [That is, if it is avalable] and may last for only a day or two with occasional ressurctions. It is easy to see why I like ebooks.
And perhaps you missed this,

[Well, until I become rich enough to buy text copies, granted I try to obtain the hardcopy of everybook I have read, but the number of such books is sadly few]

 

[Leiali]

I have about 500 books. Probably more really....I have to say I also use the library as it is next door to where I work. I think I am a pretty lucky bookworm.

Shan - I don't go often but I do occasionally like going clubbing for a dance and catch up with friends.....not all people frequenting clubs are whores of society. Some are interesting people who like dancing!honest!

 

[JohnH]

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[Mithfânion]

But, for me a book does impart a sense that the person is comfortable with themselves enough that they don't need someone else to entertain them. It gives a sense that they might want some privacy and they really don't want to hear all about the new Benz you scored on the last deal on the express to Boston. Or the grandchildren you are going to visit in Seattle on the early morning to Chicago Midway. A book says, leave me alone you crazy non-stop talking stranger who thinks a bag of trailmix and a half can of soda in common makes you the perfect ear for the next two or more hours. There is a reason why I carry a book and there is a reason why I get a window seat every time no matter the odds of death are much higher.

Hehe, that is just so recognizable.

A bookshelf hanging from the ceiling sounds pretty cool btw.

 

[Julian]

I myself frown upon even paid for e-books. People always challenge that, and I think it's ridiculous that they would. NO e-books do NOT bring books to new audiances, NO e-books are NOT protecting litterature, and NO e-books are NOT practical.

I agree with all that. But you know, the only way I managed to get a copy of John Crowley's Aegypt - one of my favorite books, in case you didn't know - was by buying it as an e-Book. And now I have it on my PC harddisk, my PDA and even my mobile phone. And if I'm honest - if everything crashes all at once, I'd not really mind all that much - except for losing the Crowley.

So the thing is - sometimes you adapt. Sometimes you have to - and sometimes it's not a bad thing. Nothing compares to pages, covers, a tangible thing. But when I think of the first few pages of Aegypt - I think of the way it looks on a screen. And since I got to know it that way, that's the way it's supposed to look. You adapt.

Of course, if an ebook was the only way to read I would be hunkered over a blinking screen and live with the cataracts I get by sixty and just be thankful, darnit.

Ah yes - I could have been a bit more succinct here, couldn't I?