How Will You Read "After America"?
Like all Ricochet readers I'm sure, I'm counting down the days until Mark Steyn's new book "After America" is released. I see that on his website you can pre-order a signed copy for $29.95. This got me thinking, how do most Ricochet readers prefer to read nowadays, physical books or ebooks (Kindle, etc)?
Recently Amazon announced that Kindle Ebooks are now outselling print books. Borders has gone under and I think the surviving book stores are feeling the pressure. For myself I've actually self-published a number of fitness books. I can tell you that the Ebook sales are gaining on the physical book sales noticeably.
So, which do you prefer and why? For myself I thought I could never give up the physical book. However, once I got the Kindle app on my iPad I don't think I could ever go back. The Kindle books for me have the following advantages:
1) They're cheaper (Steyn's book is going to be $14.95 on Kindle).
2) You can purchase, download and read it instantly.
3) It saves so much space.
All of the above are important reasons in favor of eBooks, but the last point needs to be expanded on. I love reading and I love books. However, once you've finished a book, what do you do with them? I have a fairly big book shelf with books that I've read, enjoyed, and will probably never read again. And yet, I can't get rid of them. The thought of throwing them out sickens me. I mean, there's always a chance I might want to look something up again, right? Still, they take up a lot of space ...
I suspect this space issue is a major reason why DVD sales are tanking as well. People prefer Netflix and similar services. There are really only a few movies that are worth owning.
At any rate, where do you stand on this issue? Do you plan on reading Mark's new book the old fashioned way, or have you converted to eBooks as well? Why or why not?
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Comments :
Jul '10
Re: How Will You Read "After America"?
The Kindle format is a pain in the butt to share with the family, as in the people I share my house with, for starters. Still I have a dozen or so. Most of my eBook purchases are in PDF, the 1000+ books load on my iPhone in under a minute.
For the very few authors where I care about a signed copy, hardcover is the way to go. Michael Yon's latest will be arriving any day. Now that I know about Steyn's latest release, I have to decide. Second dress for the wife and shoes for the children, or signed Steyn. I'm thinking it isn't even close.
Apr '11
Re: How Will You Read "After America"?
In John Derbyshire's column in the most recent National Review (DT), he confesses to being a "book amass-er" (as opposed to a book collector). I have to admit to the same vice. Every horizontal surface in my house is currently overflowing with books, but I just cannot help myself. I love the physical artifact, and have no desire to switch to e-books.
Besides, Have you ever tried to get a Kindle or iPad signed?
Feb '11
Re: How Will You Read "After America"?
MJGossman: In John Derbyshire's column in the most recent National Review (DT), he confesses to being a "book amass-er" (as opposed to a book collector). I have to admit to the same vice. Every horizontal surface in my house is currently overflowing with books, but I just cannot help myself. I love the physical artifact, and have no desire to switch to e-books.
Besides, Have you ever tried to get a Kindle or iPad signed? · Jul 18 at 3:07am
I am exactly the same. I am currently looking for ways to squeeze more shelves in the house. It's approaching impossible. Maybe an addition...
Mar '11
Re: How Will You Read "After America"?
There is nothing about an eBook that impresses me.
Oct '10
Re: How Will You Read "After America"?
I have spent my entire life loving to read and struggling to overcome my extremely poor eyesight. It has been at least 10 or more years since I could read other than the enlarged print editions of books, which cuts out a lot of choices.
I am an early purchaser of a Kindle, and have found it to be so far superior to print editions. The fact that I can change the print font and size has eliminated the struggle. And, the natural graphite on paper look, rather than LCD screen makes it even better. As for color, I cannot remember when my reading choices have ever had a "color" focus, or even if color ever mattered at all. And now that the Kindle case has a reading light built into it, we can even read out on the deck at night without any additional light needed.
And as for sharing, my wife and I often are reading the same book, so her Kindle and mine are synced.
Mar '11
Re: How Will You Read "After America"?
I like the Kindle, but I'll buy a print copy of a book if the print price is close to the Kindle price (which is more and more common) and/or I know that I'll want to share the book with someone. The big Kindle advantage to me is the ability to pull out my phone and continue reading a book in a waiting room or as a passenger in a car.
May '10
Re: How Will You Read "After America"?
I love paper books, but some years ago I started buying audiobooks for a couple reasons. 1. I walk a half an hour to work and then sometimes home again. I can listen to a book in about two weeks, and surprisingly, I often listen twice--something I wouldn't do with a paper book. 2. Being located in Japan, I have to take long (12hr) flights a couple times a year. If I have a new book on my iphone I can put on my noise-canceling headphones, close my eyes, and almost forget that I am surrounded by crying babies and people with ugly tattoos. 3. I can listen to books that would be too demanding to read.
Dec '10
Re: How Will You Read "After America"?
Who doesn't have a secret yearning for a dark wood paneled library stacked floor to ceiling with shelves of books, a comfortable wingback chair, and a fire burning on the hearth? I read some stuff on my phone, but if the opportunity to get a kindle presents itself I will probably get it. Having a library in the palm of my hands is just too much of a draw. I have kindle on my phone, but as cell phones are not allowed at work it has limited utility.
May '10
Re: How Will You Read "After America"?
Read all my books on iPad and iPhone in Kindle format. Avid reader and I can read on iPhone while I'm waiting for appointment or having coffee. Don't like audio books as I prefer to read. Guess we are all different.
Apr '11
Re: How Will You Read "After America"?
I will be reading Steyn's book the old fashioned way as you say, David. I still haven't made the jump to the Kindle. I like how MJGossman called it a "physical artifact". I actually do go back and reread parts of or whole books. When people come over I like when they ask me what "Liberal Fascism" is about or who Victor Davis Hanson is as they peruse my book shelves. It's a good way to start up conversations. It's a lot different than "nice Kindle".
Jun '10
Re: How Will You Read "After America"?
I'll be reading it on paper. I haven't made the jump to ebooks yet, nor am I sure that I want to. I like being able to flip through the pages to see how far I am through the book or chapter. I also haven't seen books selling significantly cheaper in electronic format than in physical copy. I the case of After America, Amazon.com is selling it for $16.64 in print and $14.98 for Kindle. That difference is less than the price of a grande latte at the flagship Starbucks in Seattle, WA (which now serves as my permanent benchmark of all costs). As for my overflowing bookshelves, my wife and I solve that with periodic trips to the local library to donate them for their fundraising effort.
Jun '10
Re: How Will You Read "After America"?
jrb
MJGossman: In John Derbyshire's column in the most recent National Review (DT), he confesses to being a "book amass-er" (as opposed to a book collector). I have to admit to the same vice. Every horizontal surface in my house is currently overflowing with books, but I just cannot help myself. I love the physical artifact, and have no desire to switch to e-books.
Besides, Have you ever tried to get a Kindle or iPad signed? · Jul 18 at 3:07am
I am exactly the same. I am currently looking for ways to squeeze more shelves in the house. It's approaching impossible. Maybe an addition... · Jul 18 at 4:23am
Count me in on this one, too... but I do have a Kindle. I can download scores of free books that are better read on a Kindle device than on my computer. It's a balancing act, but I don't see how I could ever abandon the paper book in my hands. It seems irreplaceable despite my fence straddling in both worlds.
Aug '10
Re: How Will You Read "After America"?
Buying a Mark Steyn book as an e-book amounts to placing a bet on free speech.
The technical architecture of the Kindle allows a title to be remotely deleted whereas it is not practical for paper books to be recalled by the publisher or censored by the state. We saw this in the case of 1984, where a disputed copyright case led to a court order to delete the Kindle edtion, including those that had already been purchased. Given the legal troubles of Mr. Steyn's last book (well, technically a magazine article serialized from his book), I am not willing to take a bet that some human rights commission or other variety of panjandrum will not find the new book to be hate speech and order it remotely deleted.
May '11
Re: How Will You Read "After America"?
I use e-books almost exclusively. The ability to download books instantly is a great asset although it encourages impulsive choices which get expensive.
Dec '10
Re: How Will You Read "After America"?
Bottom line:
So long as it matters to us conservatives to put "New York Times Best Selling Author" on the front cover of our books we are losing and will continue to lose the culture war for America's future.
Or do we put "NYT Bestselling Author" just to stick a finger in a few lib eyes, in which case, we are still losing the cultural war, just at a faster pace because we are allowing ourselves to be distracted from the real battle, for what purpose?
Or maybe deep down we know we've already lost the culture war so we're just trying to have a good laugh on the way down to total societal collapse.
Nov '10
Re: How Will You Read "After America"?
I love to be read to. I download recorded books and listen on my 35-mile commute. It makes the miles click by effortlessly.
Re: How Will You Read "After America"?
Steve in Texas (on the border): Bottom line:
So long as it matters to us conservatives to put "New York Times Best Selling Author" on the front cover of our books we are losing and will continue to lose the culture war for America's future.
Or do we put "NYT Bestselling Author" just to stick a finger in a few lib eyes, in which case, we are still losing the cultural war, just at a faster pace because we are allowing ourselves to be distracted from the real battle, for what purpose?
Or maybe deep down we know we've already lost the culture war so we're just trying to have a good laugh on the way down to total societal collapse. · Jul 18 at 6:53am
None of the above. The NYT simply has a very good listing of which books sold the most the previous week. It's an industry standard that is widely recognized. It has absolutely nothing to do with their newsgathering or editorial pages -- just a way of saying that your book sold really well.
Aug '10
Re: How Will You Read "After America"?
Half and half. I love my Kindle, it actually makes reading easier and faster for me. And there is a ton of classic literature you can get for free which still costs money in print versions; a few months ago I downloaded all 4 volumes of Gibbon's Decline and Fall of the Roman Empire for free, but the paperbacks run $10-$20 each.
If the print and Kindle versions are the same price, and I don't need to add shipping, I'll buy a book just because I enjoy collecting them. Plus I had started collecting some series before the Kindle came out, and I'm willing to pay an extra dollar to complete the set on my bookshelf.
But when a new book comes out, and I have a choice of an expensive hardcover, an inexpensive Kindle version, or waiting several months for a cheap paperback copy... I'll often go with the Kindle.
Aug '10
Re: How Will You Read "After America"?
While this is technically true, it's also very easy to avoid. You can use the USB cable that comes with the Kindle to plug into your computer, which reads it like a normal flash drive. You can backup everything to your hard drive with a simple copy/paste, and Amazon won't be able to stop you from reloading it at will.
You can also easily hack the Kindle itself, but that's overkill. If the stealth deletions ever become a major issue, you can expect to see the hacker community make "jailbreak" mods easy to install; the Kindle is not nearly as locked down as Apple's iPod.
Dec '10
Re: How Will You Read "After America"?
On amazon, the hardcopy is only $2 more at $16.64 (free shipping if you pad the order to > $25). Kindle-schmindle. I'm someone who reads too many sci-fi novels and feel better with hardcopy so I'll have something to read after the EMP attack. Steyn's new book would be an excellent read then...