My EBook Reader

I love books. At one point I had a library of probably 200 or more books, some hardcovers, but also lots of paperbacks. Then one day I realized that they were taking up space, and as much as I loved them I would never reread all of them. Slowly but surely I've been giving them away via BookMooch. Of course, I get some books from there myself, but I usually give them back to someone else when I'm done reading them.

So, I'm left with a few books that I don't care that much about, I will probably end up donating them. I still have some really nice Hardcover books, that there is no way I'm going to part with because I reread them frequently or have notes in them. I've cleared up a lot of space, but I still want to read current books when they come out.

I debated about whether I wanted to purchase an EBook reader. I knew people who had Kindles and Nooks, but I thought that ebooks would never replace the "real thing" for me. How could a screen replace paper? Then I saw a Sony Ebook Reader on Woot! for $100 so I decided to give it a try. I was tired of waiting to buy books used when they were cheap.

When I first got it, I hated it. I downloaded some public domain books to try it out, and really thought that I was going to end up putting it on Ebay to try and make my money back. A couple days before I left on vacation, I purchased an ebook from the Sony Store for the trip. I figured it would at least save me some room in my Carry-on bag and I could sell it when I got back. So I started reading the book a couple days before we left, finished it on our trip, and downloaded the next two in the series. I was hooked on the series, and on the reader. It really does read like paper. I bought a cover with a built in light so I can read in bed without annoying my wife.

What it comes down to, is the ideas contained in the book. The physical medium makes no difference, it's really all just ones and zeros in my head anyway. When Stieg Larsson describes a scene where his protagonist is being shot at in the Swedish forest, it doesn't matter if I'm holding something made out of woodpulp or printed circuits, I'm still spellbound. Hopefully my public library will improve their selection of ebooks so I can borrow some too.

I'm not knocking printed books, or people that prefer them over an ebook, but I understand ebook readers now. I will probably still buy used books if that is the most cost effective way to get to read them, but I have another option now, and for new books the price is right in ebook format.

NEVER giving up my comic book collection though. I don't care how good they may look on a screen.