h2g2 The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy: Earth Edition

My wife was spending, on average, €50 a month for books. We've got a huge living room, but even that was running out of space for bookshelves. The Kindle was a Godsend.

I think its capacity is around 3500 books. You'd think that no-one would ever fill it. I'd say she's got around 300 on there now and it's not even close to coming out of its one-year warranty. They've all been read, some as many as two or three times. My wife eats books. She can easily munch through 10 a *week* if she's in her reading mode.

OK, I never get to speak to her, but I don't trip over in the living room anymore.

I know what you mean, DDD. We have 9 tall, wide Ikea Billy bookcases in our library, plus three tall narrow ones. We have 'extension' units on top of four of the tall wide units. OK, the bottom half of three of the wide ones is used for storage, but we expected to have enough room for 'expansion' even so. We officially ran out of space around the time I bought my Kindle, just 3 years after we moved in and bought the bookcases. I have since replaced all my classics with ebooks, which has freed up some shelf space for books I want to read, but can't get as ebooks. Hubby wants some of the shelf space for ornaments and photos that aren't displayed well where they are, and I want some for OU course books, so there isn't really as much as it seems.

I have a bit of a Catch-22 (good book, that) when it comes to e-readers. You see, I _don't_ read quicky. I get through about a book per month (except graphic novels, they're much quicker). This means I buy books more quickly than I read them. Having reined myself in, I now have two shelves of unread books to my left.
So, the fact is that there's no point buying an e-reader until I get through all of the print books I have. Except, because I have no e-reader, I keep buying more print books...

I bloody love my Kindle and feel it was money well spent. I would recommend one to anyone who really likes reading.

FB

there's nothing to compare with a nicely made conventional book...

...except that I may, just may, be coming around, albeit slowly.

I'll for a while, if I may

I really enjoy my Kindle, and am very grateful to hubby for buying it for me, but I must admit to enjoying re-reading my old tree books, too. I can't decide which is best!

Oh.. Kindle is best for reading in bed, it's not so noisy when it falls out of your hands onto the floor

<>

Challenge you there, Lil.

How many times have I 'adjusted' the casing when my lovely wife has dozed-off and the Kindle has headed Southward?

I'm going to be needed any day now, when it sinks (and it will) to the bottom of the bath.

I'm amazed it's lasted as long as it has.

BUT, The Kindle is not best for reading in bed. The ing bedroom light stays on all night (while she reads) and then goes off just before 5am when the sun wakes me up.

Ah! Hubby also bought me a nice leather cover, which sort of protects the edges when it lands on the carpet

I don't read in the bath, fortunately

... Ummmm... 5am.. Yes, well! That's a different matter

Hmmm, we have tiles, not carpet, in the bedroom so the Kindle makes a good 'thunk' as it falls out the bed and springs a corner.

The 5am is when we go to bed at midnight, I nod off in 20 seconds and she reads for an hour or so then falls asleep, then the cockerels next door wake me up at 5am and I realise the light is still on...

Hubby says it's easier to get me to let go of the Kindle, when he tries to take it off me.

He says, with a book I have a vice like gripe and he couldn't get it off me without waking me up...

... To which I would say... I'm reading that!

I have the Kindle app for various devices that I already own, rather than buying a Kindle itself. The iPhone app is very handy for on the bus to and from work as I can read books for the ten minute bus ride, then just pop the phone back in my pocket and carry on.

For all my other reading though, I prefer print books. They just feel right.

"How long do you need the battery to last? ..... four or five hours on a full charge I'm pretty sure that'll be sufficient."

Haven't you heard of the environment.

I think you can get ereaders on some of the tablets - I would assume the Kindle Fire is backlit. Why don't you pop along and have a look at one and tell me all about it, as I'd quite like one of those too.

Thanks for this thread - the other one got so long, I got lost.
F19585?thread=7122794

Like Bob, I still have a shelf of unread books, but I hanker for an e-book of any sort, because I find books generally so impractical and I don't get the sensual thrill that many seem to have from holding a treebook. What's all this about their smell? Either they smell of nothing or they are old and smell mildewy.

I would love a screen that fits on the piano and automatically turns the pages for you. Has anyone invented one of those yet? In that case, they would need to be as big as possible rather than as small as possible.

Thanks everyone

I think I'll do a bit more web research and pop into a phone shop or something and try reading a chapter or so of something, and see how that goes....

I find reading on the phone really difficult TBH.

I have a really good one (A Galaxy S2) and also a tablet computer and for my 2 cents neither are fit for purpose for proper reading.

What is good about the kindle (and dedicated e readers) is that the eInk stuff is really ace. It doesn't strain your eyes and frankly is just like reading a book.

FB

I got my Kindle from Tesco. The day I bought it, they had a Kindle and a tablet computer (Samsung, I think) on display next to each other. Reading on the tablet was easy enough, but it was so much more bulky and I didn't think I'd use its functionality. As I've said, weight can be an issue. If I'm having trouble holding a book, there's no way I'd manage a tablet. I might as well read on my netbook.

As for reading on my phone, I can do it but it's not as pleasant as reading on my Kindle. (I have the background set to sepia, rather than white, because it's easier on the eyes.) In fact, where a book is available as an ebook, I'll buy it that way in preference to a tree-book.

Quick question for Kindle users - can you download PDFs to your Kindle?

Yes, but as mentioned before they aren't always easy to read, I have to read them in landscape to avoid sideways scrolling and still if they are in columns it's up and down up and down like a tart's knickers.

But still handy to take out and about and read when I have five mins. I put all my PDFs on there to read now.

I have a Kindle which I bought from Tesco (clubcard vouchers came in useful!). I love it, I have 2 bookcases of books plus loads more books on an ornamental shelving unit, and still have about 30 books on my Kindle. The books are cheaper, I have an M-Edge case which you can buy a light for which is handy for night reading, and I find the E-Ink so much easier to read than a computer screen as I had the app on my computer for a while because uni text books were cheaper that way! Personally, I didn't want a backlit ereader because of the strain on my eyes from a backlit screen!
Anyway, that's my

Yeah, reportedly the strain on eyes is the main thing that was holding back electronic replacements for print books for some time, and that is the key innovation Kindle claimed to have made. Having something you could stare at for hours without trouble was key to their strategy, and if that means no back-lighting, so be it.