I currently have around 200 books/stories on my Nook. I have read or started to read about 20 of those books/stories. I also have a number of MP3’s. So I do have a wide selection to read or listen to. I can add research books that are available. I have new authors who started by publishing free books. I have old authors whose works are now being digitally archived an made available on the internet. A wonderful array of things to keep this old mind busy.
There is no physical way that I would have been able to read the past few selections in paper. Living in rural America, our local libraries can not be expected to have complete libraries of old classic books, they can’t be expected to have all of the latest authors. And if a book is out of print? How will the get it? That doesn’t even include books that are found only on the web. Stories only found in back issues of old magazines. Nope, I would not have been able to find all of the things I’ve read.
In my lifetime, I’ve had to move a ‘library’ of books from place to place. I’ve moved, my children have moved and we all have had books. A box of 20 hardbound books is heavy. 200+ books would be almost a truckload. I can carry them in the palm of my hand. And I can and will put more books on the Nook. I’m not sure I will ever read all of them, but it will give me something to do.
And I am assuming that in the years to come, more books will be available in electronic format. I will probably still buy books, go to the library or borrow a book or two from friends. Hard copy books and the feel in my hand are things I don’t want to give up just yet. But I’m thinking if the improvements to the reader itself and the books available, I may be able to carry a complete reference, entertainment library wherever I go. I think that is a wonderful thing.
I seem to recall a futuristic character having the same sentiment about hard copy books. A nostalgic sense. A fondness for antiques. AH… now I remember who.
While not for every human reader, the electronic reader has certainly seemed to find its target audience in you! Glad it’s working out so well, and that you’re enjoying it so much!
jamaihsh — Ah — yes — the — famous — Captain.
Picard was so much better. And he liked real books, too.
yes he did Draclet. I have always been torn between the two.. nothing like the original no matter how corny the acting got.
I’ve realized another good reason for e-books- replacing thick, awkward tomes such as Robert Jordan’s Wheel of Time series (or Harry Potter, or Terry Goodkind, or… you get the idea).