The Millions has a great essay about one difference between conventional books and electronic books that we may not have considered. You can learn a lot about someone by seeing what books they've kept. Perusing someone's bookshelf can lead to great conversations as you see what interests they have and what you might have in common. The author discovered his own mother as a person who had a life before he came along by noting the books she read, still displayed on bookshelves in his grandparents' home.
With the availability of e-readers and books on the internet, will anyone ever know what the next generation will find important to read and to keep? Link -via Metafilter
And then there was my wife, whose bookshelves I first inspected in a humid DC summer, while her parents were away at work. The shelves were stuffed full of novels—Little House on the Prairie, The Andromeda Strain, One Hundred Years of Solitude—that described an arc of discovery I had followed too. At the time we met, her books still quivered from recent use and still radiated traces of the adolescent wonder they’d prompted. In the years since, on visits home for the holidays and to celebrate engagements and births, I’ve watched her bookshelves dim and settle. Lately they’ve begun to resemble a type of monument I recognize from my mother’s room. They sit there waiting for the day when our son will be old enough to spend his own afternoons puzzling out a picture of his mother in the books she left behind.
With the availability of e-readers and books on the internet, will anyone ever know what the next generation will find important to read and to keep? Link -via Metafilter
I think bookshelves will be around for awhile yet- when we really like something, we buy it. E-copies are easily damaged, lost (of course- replaced, too)- and I find it hard to really keep on top of what I've read and what I haven't. A book on the other hand- always my first choice.
I have never found any interest in e-books for recreational reading. I do, however, rather like the idea of a Kindle for textbooks. :-)
by the way, in japan they sell soft-cover books for 3 euro.
back on topic, i think people can as well check out what you've read looking at your ebook reader history etc. also, you can compare your lists everywhere :)
ps: sorry for my poor english
But now we have last.fm and a way better sense of what our friends are listening to.
I love the act of holding a book (especially hardcover) in my hands. I love hearing the soft crack of the spine as you open it. It love the act of turning a page. And I adore the way books look as they sit on my shelf and whisper, “Pick me!” when I walk by.