Reading is rubbish!

[Nearly Sane]

Lovely story


http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/education-40173423

[Udayana]

Nice.

I would quite like to do something like that with discarded, donated or second hand books,, but can't see a way that it could be self-financing. Books take a lot of space so storage is a big problem, you need to have and maintain a permanent, easily accessible space.

High street (new) book retailers are having a hard time due to books being available cheaper over the internet. ebay does well for second hand. This despite availability of tea, coffee and cake and newspapers.     

Went to a Waterstones today, half of which was closed. Had to ask if they had a science section as I couldn't find anything - apparently Science has been reallocated to something called Smart Thinking - as a small shelf of popular science titles amongst other books that no one wants to read. Academic books have disappeared altogether.

[floo]

Lovely story


http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/education-40173423

Good for him!

I prefer my Kindle these days.

[ad_orientem]

Good on him. I've always prefered books. I don't like reading anything lengthy on a screen, it does my eyes in.

[Shaker]

I don't like electrical gadgets either. I have the Kindle app on my phone for a very few and very rare things I can't get hold of otherwise, but I hardly ever use it. Nothing to do with my eyes; it just doesn't have the all-round aesthetics of reading a book, which at its best is a multi-sensory experience - touch, sound, smell.

Proper books for me all the way.

[Walt Zingmatilder]

   

Went to a Waterstones today, half of which was closed. Had to ask if they had a science section as I couldn't find anything - apparently Science has been reallocated to something called Smart Thinking - as a small shelf of popular science titles amongst other books that no one wants to read. Academic books have disappeared altogether.

Sounds horrendous but predictable.

[Shaker]

High street (new) book retailers are having a hard time due to books being available cheaper over the internet. ebay does well for second hand. This despite availability of tea, coffee and cake and newspapers.   

I don't know if there's a solution to this, and I say this holding up my hands and confessing that I am, or was, part of the problem. Some years back one of the leisure parks near me opened up a vast Borders, a cathedral of books complete with cafe, all the bells and whistles. Trouble was that they priced themselves out of the running - the prices of the books were bordering (    ) on the absurd - I made many an expedition there and spent countless hours scribbling down the details of books that I would go home and order online for a fraction of the cost ... sometimes for 1p, in fact, for a book that may have cost the best part of a tenner (or more) back in the shop. I may have played a minuscule part in the ultimate downfall of Borders, but I'm afraid that in this filthy capitalist pig world we sadly live in, if a business can't deliver competitively it's going to go tits up sooner or later.

Browsing in bookshops (new or secondhand; chain or independent, whatever) is one of life's great joys, always has been, and I desperately want to see bookshops thrive; but I've no answers as to how they can do that in today's climate.

[Nearly Sane]

I am with Shaker on the downfall of Borders and water stones but would also point out that the days when you could get lits of textbooks in mega large bookshops was a very short time in this country. My nearest Waterston's has a far larger catalogue even now than almost any bookshops I visited growing up, and textbooks were for the main in specialist stores and often not easy to get to. I also have spent s lot of time and money in second hand stores, and then on line getting books that intge very short time they might ever have been available in a high street store were hugely expensive. Also the access to both to second hand on the internet and the increase on thee number of books republished so that you can get a hold of them has meant due to the much longer tale of what is profitable that books that were never going to be in high street book shops are available.


I am, however, with Floo in that I prefer digital. It's far easier to transport the amount I read and, since I tend to binge read subjects, I can have several books at different stages and refer back and forth for reference. I would have said at one stage that I liked the physical surrounds of a book but no more. It feels limited and awkward to me now.

[Rhiannon]

Bookshops are thriving here. Two outstanding independents plus a rather large second hand one. Both the independents also run book festivals, book clubs, even a club that combines discussing books with country walking. And coffee and homemade cake.

[floo]

I love reading, but I am a speed reader and get through a book in about two days, if not sooner! Our home would be overrun with books, if it weren't for my Kindle.

[Shaker]

I love reading, but I am a speed reader and get through a book in about two days, if not sooner! Our home would be overrun with books

Yep 

[Enki]

I can't get out of the habit of reading books, rather than using a tablet. I find it so useful to refer back to other pages or to simply leave a book open so that I can simply pick it up later and carry on reading. For me, books have a presence which a tablet lacks. I do use a tablet however for instructions, manuals and things like that.

[john]

I caught the Ereader book fad for a while; had a Sony one when they first came out and had two Kindle things later. I have now given up on them totally I prefer to read real books.

I was reading somewhere the other day that the bottom has dropped out of the ereader market there were certainly non at all on display when I went to Waterstones this morning.

I buy most of my books from Amazon (usually second hand some can be bought for as little as 1 penny plus postage). I don't mind paying full price for a newly released book if it's one I want.

Reference type books and ones I want to re read I keep. The others I give away.

[Shaker]

I buy most of my books from Amazon (usually second hand some can be bought for as little as 1 penny plus postage).

Mon semblable! Mon frère! 

[Nearly Sane]

I caught the Ereader book fad for a while; had a Sony one when they first came out and had two Kindle things later. I have now given up on them totally I prefer to read real books.

I was reading somewhere the other day that the bottom has dropped out of the ereader market there were certainly non at all on display when I went to Waterstones this morning.

I buy most of my books from Amazon (usually second hand some can be bought for as little as 1 penny plus postage). I don't mind paying full price for a newly released book if it's one I want.

Reference type books and ones I want to re read I keep. The others I give away.

Pure Ereaders,yes the market is collapsing other than paperwhite versions.  it is a mistake to think that is to do with an equivalent collapse in ebooks, rather it is a factor of tablets and smart phones.  My current Kindles cover most of my computing and tv watching needs as well as reducing my typical suitcase by 5kg

[floo]

Pure Ereaders,yes the market is collapsing other than paperwhite versions.  it is a mistake to think that is to do with an equivalent collapse in ebooks, rather it is a factor of tablets and smart phones.  My current Kindles cover most of my computing and tv watching needs as well as reducing my typical suitcase by 5kg

I didn't realise you could watch TV on a Kindle.

[Nearly Sane]

I didn't realise you could watch TV on a Kindle.

Depends on Kindle. old versions, no but a Kindle Fire at t
about 40 quid and you can.

[floo]

Depends on Kindle. old versions, no but a Kindle Fire at t
about 40 quid and you can.

My current Kindle is fairly new, but I only require it for reading, I like a reasonable size screen for watching TV.

[wigginhall]

We used to watch iPlayer on a Kindle, and it is a bit squished, until one day I realized that our TV has it built-in.   

[floo]

We used to watch iPlayer on a Kindle, and it is a bit squished, until one day I realized that our TV has it built-in.

So does ours, we have a smart TV.

[Dajjal]

Good on him. I've always prefered books. I don't like reading anything lengthy on a screen, it does my eyes in.

What kind of screen do you have? If you are still using a cathode ray tube monitor you should upgrade to an LCD flat screen.

I find reading on my 19 inch LCD screen very easy and there is no glare or eye strain involved.

But I like books, and I have one room with wall to wall bookcases filled with books on subjects like religion and philosophy and art. I have no intention, or desire to move house, but if I had to it would be a real problem lugging all those books around.

[ad_orientem]

What kind of screen do you have? If you are still using a cathode ray tube monitor you should upgrade to an LCD flat screen.

I find reading on my 19 inch LCD screen very easy and there is no glare or eye strain involved.

But I like books, and I have one room with wall to wall bookcases filled with books on subjects like religion and philosophy and art. I have no intention, or desire to move house, but if I had to it would be a real problem lugging all those books around.

I think ir's just to do with a bad stigmatism in my eyes. They get very tired very quickly. I have an lcd at home and a plasma at work.