Pick One: Which is your favorite way to read books?
Lol I read all three formats. I have shit ton of physical books in my home and I have a serious buying issue where always buying more books and read them. And thanks to my library I have a Libby account and so far read over 26 books just through my kindle alone. Lastly I listen to audiobooks anytime I behind the wheel commuting to work or just driving. I just love to read and also love to write.
Clearly you don't read enough books... Like, bro, she's clearly absorbing the contents of the book through diffusion. If you don't know how to do this then you're clearly not in our league.
Obviously they are using osmosis via the ocular membrane... I was confused about why they needed a scarf. Reading that way uses a lot of energy and should generate copious amounts of heat via friction.
I read exclusively through diffusion. Two years on and I'm on page 22 of the first Harry Potter book.
e-reader were a gamechanger for me.
on one side they are super convinient, because of the backlight alone.
on the other side: piracy
It makes me proud that my gf used to have (I think it is busted now) a telegram bot to download books from zlibrary, as an iPhone user that was very convenient, but now she doesn't.
My Android app works pretty fine though, so I just sent her the books there.
on the other side: piracy
I understand and encourage this, but I wonder, is there any "Steam" for books? In the meaning of "oh, this service is so good that actually I don't want to bother to pirate them!"
amazon on kindle is very convienient. But I don't want to support jeff bezozs, which is why I like piracy. Also amazon makes it really easy to pirate. You just send the pirated copy to you kindle email-adress, and amazon uploads the pirated ebook to your kindle. I have done this for about 10 years, and I like to image, that Jeff sheds a single tear each time I do this.
On the other hand there are many public libraries with a steam-like service. e.g. you pay your regular library fee (2€ iirc) and you can download all the books you want to your e-reader. The catch is, that you can only keep a certain number of digital copies at the same time for some reason. The other down side is, that the initial setup takes some time (but I guess that depends on the library? idk it was >5 years ago when I did some research in that direction).
If someone knows more about the public-library-ebook-service, please let us know.
Amazon has about 1.5 million employees.
When you buy something from them, you’re also supporting those people, as well as the stockholders, and the book’s author.
If you’re looking for the human effect of buying something from Amazon, focusing on Jeff Bezos is somewhat arbitrary.
When you buy something from them, you’re also supporting those people
I am sorry, but this take is just insane. You do not support amazon workers when you buy from amazon.
trickle down does not work. Companies like amazon will not use additional revenue to increase the conditions of their worker.
In fact, the opposite is true: the more market power amazon has, the worse it will treat its worker (and also the 3rd party sellers, and even the buyers)
Yes but if everyone stops buying from Amazon, those people lose their jobs.
This isn’t “trickle down”. This is “paychecks”. And yes it does work. That’s why those people work for Amazon.
If everyone stops buying from Amazon, those people could get jobs at any of these companies, where people buy from instead.
Amazon has replaced a lot of jobs. When amazon goes away, it in turn will get replaced by something else.
Amazon artificially deflates the value of books, while also taking a humongous cut. If you want to support authors, Amazon is usually the worst place to buy from.
some publishers don't use DRM so there's that, otherwise I guess there's overdrive which is... not that good, and requires library card but it's free
on the other side: piracy
I just want to point out that there are libraries full of physical books that you can also get for a significant amount of time and you don't have to pay for them. And of the library doesn't have the book you want, they can probably get it for you from another library.
(They also often offer ebooks and audiobooks, but that's another issue.)
Unless you want to keep the book with you, one of the nice things about paper books is that you don't have to pirate them and you can get far more obscure titles than you'd probably ever find on a pirate site.
I'm not criticizing you for pirating books, I totally get it, I'm just very pro-library.
Audio books. When I have a book in my hand, I try to reach for a screen.
When I have a screen, I waste time with games/Lemmy/Youtube/Netflix etc instead of reading books.
But I can listen to audio books when I am walking/driving/cooking etc.
i'm similar but for me i prefer physical books because if i'm reading a physical book i'm probably not sitting near any of my devices so there's less chance i'll get distracted lol
but audio book is a strong second because ya i can do other stuff while listening to it, the same way i listen to podcasts and stuff
I adore real life books, but I read at night whilst my partner sleeps. The backlit ereader is an absolute delight.
I also disagree with calling audio books "reading".
I'm not saying is is a worse way to experience the content of the book, and I enjoy it myself, but it is a fundamentally different experience based on different senses and different mechanisms.
As someone who had an almost decade-long gap between Wheel of Time books because my ADHD no longer permitted book reading at a certain point, I would respectfully disagree. Audio books have been a God Send in the last few years, discovering I can still enjoy past pleasures in full by exploiting myself in circumstances that are beneficial. Audio books have me back part of my life I had accepted as lost forever.
Yeah, you miaunderstand me.
You can still enjoy the content, but the process isn't reading that's all.
I enjoy them too. Audio books are great. Several members of my family are blind and it is a form we can enjoy.
Interestingly the fact that several people can enjoy an audiobook at once supports my argument that it is not reading... A somewhat solo pursuit unless someone reads aloud.
So, respectfully, I think you've got the wrong end of this stick.
But I do want to say that it gives me genuine pleasure that you've found a way to enjoy those stories.
Would you say that someone reading printed out lyrics is listening to music?
Maybe if they were looking at a musical score? Is that listening to music?
I'd suggest it is a way of experience it. But it certainly isn't listening to it.
I think reading is the same.
Audio books are not worse, not lesser, but they are different and that's why I'd say they are not reading.
Ereaders definitely. I hate audiobooks because they take so long to read, I prefer listening to music when travelling. And physical books take up so much physical space, besides ebooks' added benefits such as customisable brightness for reading in the dark, remembering the page, highlighting and copying/defining/searching for text, and more.
I love the thought of paper books, but the functionality of my eReader is just too great. I can carry my books with me in one tiny little thing, it's got a light built in and doesn't weigh too much. Also saves so much shelf space.
Audiobooks, I listen while I’m working. I like paper books too, it’s lovely to sink into the pages. I don’t like reading stuff on a screen because I was born too soon.
Ebook these days.
I borrow digital copies from my library. If I really love a book, and I know I'll re-read it, then Ill by a hard copy.
I used to love physical books, but I just can't do them anymore. It's eBooks all the way - on my phone, namely.
I love to read so much and the ability to have my book on me at all times is irresistible. Going to the bathroom? Waiting at the doctor's office? A few minutes break at work? Snuggling in bed at night and I don't want to turn on a light and disturb my partner?
I've tried a few times to read physical books in the last few years, and having gotten addicted to the pleasure of reading whenever the hell I want, I just can't anymore.
Audiobooks are great for long car drives, but I rarely do those, so they're a very occasional treat for me.
I agree the convenience is a huge game changer. I can vibe with a good audiobook while driving but I mostly just go with a podcast
I cannot read on my phone not even a tablet just too many distractions. I am okay with a ebook reader though.
I like the first two and use both regularly.
Audiobooks are torture because the human voice doesn't read at even hald the pace of the human eye so it. feels. like. being. drip. fed. Even when you speed it up to x2.
I usually listen to audiobooks when doing something else like riding my bike or waiting, where I don't have the conventration ability for actual reading which works quite well although it takes a bit longer than normal reading
That makes sense. I usually prefer music for those situations, but I can see the appeal of an audiobook. Might try it sometime.
Paper.
Ebooks are a tolerable alternative if there is no paper available.
I'm a fairly fast reader so audiobooks are way too slow paced for me and I don't like when they attempt to put emotions into their readings it always comes off as too inauthentic.
But that's just me, I'm a picky reader.
I also prefer paper but I've been doing audiobooks lately because I can still do chores, garden, or exercise while "reading."
I'm also picky about narrators. There are audiobooks I really want to listen to but just can't enjoy them because the narrator sucks. That said, if you're into sci-fi, I highly recommend The Expanse audiobooks and novellas narrated by Jefferson Mays.
Ereaders. They're light, have adjustable font size, can hold an extensive catalogue of books and have less distractions, in comparison to using a tablet with an ereader app on it.
Moreover, they allow me to escape international shipping fees which have really risen over the years.
On the other hand, nothing compares to the smell of a book and the sensation of holding one in your hand. I wish I could had hardcopies of some my ebooks for times when I want to get away from tech.
I really appreciate the ability to reference terms and characters with an e-reader.
I feel like if you need that it's either a nonfiction which should have an appendix or a bad fiction.
I prefer paper books, but I can definitely understand someone reading a good novel, especially a long one... or a novel in a series of novels... wanting the ability to do a quick search to look up some character or event they've forgotten about.
I'm not a Frank Herbert fan, but I know his books are pretty dense and there's a fair number of them, so if you're a Frank Herbert fan, especially one reading the series for the first time, having the ability to do a quick search back to the third book when you're reading the fifth would be pretty helpful.
Another good example would be Tolkien. I assume you don't think Tolkien is bad fiction.
I am non-native English speaker and the ability to lookup words easily was very helpful for me.
Audiobooks. So amazing to be able to “read” while you’re doing other things that are required of you.
Yep.
Cleaning. Home improvement stuff. Driving. Cardio.
A more niche one—we got a puppy this past summer. Those first few months they need so much attention. Having an audio book in my ear made the process of following him around everywhere/training so much less infuriating.
Me reading in the dark without having to hold the crease of a book, reading on my side with my ebook: yeah I think I can pick a favorite
I was a strong e-reader user for a few years around 2012, but have gone back to paper books. I like the feel of them and also like having books as physical objects in my big book shelfs in my living room. It's a bit of the decoration and signaling aspect of it too. Yet from pure practicality the e-reader was way more convenient.
OpenDyslexic is a free typeface/font designed to mitigate some of the common reading errors caused by dyslexia. The typeface was created by Abbie Gonzalez, who released it through an open-source license. The design is based on DejaVu Sans, also an open-source font.
TIL there's a dyslexic friendly font!
I never had any inkling at all that I had dyslexia until I tried reading with that font.
I need an E-reader that smells like a paper book!
I've never listened to an audiobook, but I'm about tied on physical vs E-reader books finished.
Paper books always. I have a second-gen kindle and I hate it. The reading experience is so inferior and I hate having to charge the stupid thing.