I like thinking I'm on star trek and have hundreds of books at my fingertips

Nothing beats a real book.

But, life gets in the way.

I am almost all digital now. Having dogs and cats means bookshelves are not safe havens in my home.

I quite enjoy digital. I can carry unlimited books at all times. I can adjust the page to how I want it. I can quickly locate information and passages. And I can immediately buy or check out a new one.

I usually prefer the print book, but sometimes if the wait list is long at the library I’ll get the digital copy

Since my eyes have gone to shite, I now read exclusively on the phone with giant text.

It is true that an eBook has advantages over physical books, including some of the ones you listed.

However, there is one main reason that invalidates all of them, and it has to do with how our human brain processes information.

It's been shown that reading on 3D increases understanding and retrieval of what you read. It somehow gets better into your brain. It's similar to writing longhand versus with a keyboard. If we read to learn and understand, this single fact is enough to choose physical over eBook.

I believe it may be more "efficient" to own fewer things, but being able to touch the book, pass and smell the pages, actually see the book physically, or write in the margins makes the physical book experience, in my view, more pleasurable. The downsides are manageable, and not as important as the upsides of reading actual books.

All digital, because spacewise I don't have any place to keep books (outside of what I already own physically) digital for me is also more portable/accessible and I have to strain less cause I can zoom in on text.

Also digital in my experience tends to be way cheaper which is nice because I can save/ buy more if I want.

Also no book limit. Which is great cause physically speaking I can't carry that many books.

I also appreciate the accessibility of digital. I have poor vision and I have to read with my arms straight due to nerve issues. This is near impossible to do with a paper book. So yeah, my kindle is my bff for all your reasons and some!

I love real books and have too many, but I transitioned to an actual e-reader several years ago. It’s so easy to buy or borrow e-books and you don’t have to lug physical books around - they’re all there on one device. The screen of a kindle or kobo device is easier on the eyes compared to using a tablet, and the backlighting feature is great for reading at night. Now that I need reading glasses, I find that the print in a lot of physical books is too small for me to read comfortably. With an e-reader, I can choose different fonts and font sizes. Because of carpal tunnel syndrome (I know: eyes, hands, wrists etc - getting older sucks), I usually prop up the e-reader on a stand so I don’t have to hold it; this is great for reading with good posture.

I knew I'd made the transition to e-readers for good when I was holding a real book in my hands but kept tapping on the right side of the page instead of actually turning the page. This was the “aha” moment and I’ve never looked back.

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I have small hands and weak wrists. My Kindle makes reading so much more comfortable. I also just like consistency. Having more control that I can have the same reading experience (beside the content of the actual book of course) is absolutely the best.

I prefer reading digitally for everything except books with a lot of pictures. It's just such a better experience, especially with very large/heavy books. Adjusting the line spacing is a big one for me for comfort - I really struggle to read the smaller size of paperbacks because the squashed lines give me eyestrain (the larger "trade paperbacks" are fine). I'm also a minimalist/environmentalist and don't want to kill a tree, and I don't generally reread books.

Real book, in the past reading digital books had me lose focus so easily but now I’m able to at least read somewhat without my brain wandering off. When I’m on something digitally I’m so use to everything being so concise I have that same expectations with digital books. So when I see a long paragraph I don’t bother to read it. However it real books I don’t know why it’s just to be expected and it’s easier for me to get myself into the story. I also have sensitive eyes so they hurt after awhile.

I've come to appreciate physical books as an escape from screens. So much of both my work and my free time revolves around staring at bright screens for long periods, which makes reading off of paper a satisfying change for my eyes.

For me it's all about the stories in the books. When I was a kid my backpack was full, I had books in my jacket sleeves and everywhere I could stuff books had books. Now I have one device for all of thm.

I hated my eReader at first (kobo) but my doctor insisted I try it. Since I switched my arthritis and scoliosis are better, as is my asthma. Turns out that old ass books are full of dust mites.

Now I find myself tapping the side of paper pages and not understanding why they won't change or I'll settle down with a book and expect the backlight to come on lol

Hi there. This subject has been very popular in the past. Please use reddit search and/or check the /r/books/wiki/faq.