What about ipad and others ebook? (1 Viewer)

Hello,

I just wanted to tell how much I am sorry about the new way of reading with ebook.
To me reading a book is to touch it, to smell it, to feel it.
A book is such a beautiful object, isn'it?

How do you feel about it?
 
some forum thoughts on that topic here and here.

me? I prefer the book, but if I traveled a lot I'd probably have an eReader. but I don't.

and this crowd in here has been known to sniff bindings.
 
Something you seldom hear about is that physical books give off vibes. If you pay close attention, you can sense things about the former owner, see glimpses of his or her life. I'm not the only one that happens to, right? Please tell me I'm not.
 
OK paper lovers (and tree haters), but I really like reading poetry on my iPhone.
The short lines are perfect for the small screen and it brings the poem more into focus somehow.
Its different from reading a poem alone on a white page.
Also you can read a poem anywhere inconspicuously. (For example boring meetings at work.)
I have an app from a major publisher in Norway that sends out a daily poem from their catalogue.
A nice new way to distribute poems.
 
you won't find many people more passionate about paper than me, but the paper used in 99% of books is the equivalent of the modified corn starch used in most foods - mass produced, bland, and 0nly there because it's the cheapest option.
 
And Ecco = (harper collins) = [William Collins, Sons and Co Ltd] & [Harper & Row]=
News Corporation should change their name into Toilet Paper Press.
 
Sorry fellow tree-huggers, but E-books are not all that green. It takes a shitload of carbon to make computing devices, and they change or break every three years so you have to keep buying news ones, and it takes another shitload of carbon to generate and deliver the electricity to your home/business for all this computing. Print a book once and you're done. You can read it forever (well, 1,000 years or so). Probably less net energy used in physical books than electronic ones. And while I'm usually full of shit, I work in the energy field doing -- among other things -- stats on CO2 and BTUs and all that, so I may be correct on this one. No one knows for sure, because it gets very complicated, but that's my hunch.
 
True, Bill. And mining and refining of metals uses vast amounts of energy and water. Plastics are made from petroleum, so you have oil exploration, drilling, refining, transporting, changing petroleum into plastics, transport of raw metals and plastics, turning the raw materials into computer parts, assembling devices, packaging (more paper and plastic), transporting to wholesalers, transporting to retailers, more shipping if sold on-line. Making computer chips from silica uses lots of water and energy. It goes on and on. Being an older, simpler technology, I imagine making paper from wood pulp from trees, or from recycled paper, uses less energy and maybe less water than making computers. None of this stuff is "green".
 
Sorry fellow tree-huggers, but E-books are not all that green. It takes a shitload of carbon to make computing devices, and they change or break every three years so you have to keep buying news ones, and it takes another shitload of carbon to generate and deliver the electricity to your home/business for all this computing. Print a book once and you're done. You can read it forever (well, 1,000 years or so). Probably less net energy used in physical books than electronic ones. And while I'm usually full of shit, I work in the energy field doing -- among other things -- stats on CO2 and BTUs and all that, so I may be correct on this one. No one knows for sure, because it gets very complicated, but that's my hunch.

reminded me of this:
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Justine, nice photo. Where is that?

For me, ebooks vs physical books doesn't come down to being green or not. The bigger issue is that I think you lose more than you gain culturally/spiritually/experientially when the ebook replaces the physical book. There's a great book about this, written way back in 1994: The Gutenberg Elegies, by Sven Birkerts. Marvin Malone's daughter, Christa, turned me on to this book.

If you want to save the environment, the greenest way to read is to buy or borrow used books locally. The book already exists, the damage is done, it doesn't need to be shipped across the country. Borrow from a library, or from friends/family. There's not much impact to reading that way. Buying a Kindle to read classics that you download free from Amazon is expensive and has an environmental impact.

I realize that it's a done deal. The physical books is being steamrollered by the ebook. Cranks like me will lose this argument. But I don't have to be happy about it.
 
that pic is of the Detroit Public Schools Book Depository

If you want to save the environment, the greenest way to read is to buy or borrow used books locally.

i feel like this is the major problem: the people who complain the most loudly about e-books replacing real books are the same people who only borrow books from the library or buy them used. if people don't buy books, then what impetus is there to make them? small presses will always survive because the only people buying small press stuff are people interested in the physicality of books, anyway - you don't really find much small press stuff at libraries or used book stores.
 
this is from a bookstore that GETS IT. instead of spouting inane platitudes about how paper books are SO SUPERIOR and then whining and crying about how ebooks will eventually put them out of business (or acting like the suddenly dinosaur-ish Powell's and laying off 31 people while blaming ebooks for their declining sales), this bookstore has taken the bull by the horns and really figured out how to be a successful retailer of literature in the 21st century. kudos to them, and hopefully they'll be around for a long time.

---

A Message from The Booksmith
As you know, the book world is being rocked by a number of radical changes: the growing size and power of Amazon, the advent of eBooks, and just this week, the bankruptcy of Borders which would shut 200 stores across the US, including their San Francisco Union Square & Market Street stores. We'd like to take this opportunity to let you know what's going on at the Booksmith.
Three and a half years ago, when we assumed stewardship of Booksmith, we knew it was going to be impossible for independent bookstores to survive without reinventing themselves. We took it as a personal challenge.
We have revamped & expanded our literary events program, built and trained a team of passionate and knowledgeable booksellers, added to our book selection, and made significant operational improvements. In the middle of the recession of 2008-09, we made a significant investment to remodel the Booksmith to improve your browsing experience. Through our expanded community giving program we have partnered with dozens of local schools and not-for-profit organizations to help them raise money for their causes. Last fall we became the first bookstore in the country to livestream our author events, and were early adopters of new ecommerce technologies including the addition of Google Editions ebook service to booksmith.com, and this spring we are installing a new computer system to further improve our ability to offer personalized service to our readers.
The results speak for themselves - Booksmith's popularity is at a new high! Your favorite independent bookstore has won a number of awards including Best Author Appearances by SF Weekly and the Best Read by 7x7 Magazine. While some in the publishing world are bemoaning the loss of younger generations of readers to the internet, we are seeing a resurgence of interest from young and old alike who are attracted by our unique programs like the Bookswap, Literary Clown Foolery and Found in Translation. Local Bay Area authors increasingly consider the Booksmith the best place in San Francisco to host their book talks, and nationally in-demand authors are asking their publishers to send them the Booksmith. Our long-term customer Karen Crommie recently wrote about the Booksmith in a local newsletter calling it "a vital center of intellectual life."
Our view of the future is simple. Nobody knows to what extent printed books will survive the technological future into which we are all headed. But that's ok because at the Booskmith our focus has always been on the cultural experience and community which surrounds books. Whether people choose to read ebooks or print books, people will always need help telling and selling their stories, people will always need help finding great stories to read, and literature lovers will always want to meet other literature lovers. Author Jonathan Franzen has said that fiction is the most fundamental human art because it's about storytelling and that our reality arguably consists of the stories we tell about ourselves. And the most fundamental human art isn't going away. In fact it's going through explosive growth as more and more people become writers, and more and more books are published every year.
So, we go on reinventing ourselves in little ways every day to maintain the diverse, eclectic, smart outpost of culture that you have come to expect from us. We plan to continue listening to our community, to keep experimenting with new ideas and services, and to continue helping everyone with whom we cross paths. We plan to keep reading, keep discovering, and keep presenting great books and authors for you that you might not find otherwise in the mass media and we hope you will continue to patronize us against all the competing temptations that come your way. Our priority is to continue maintaining the Booksmith as a dynamic, engaging, changing and vital component of our neighborhood and our city, and we're able to do this because of the continuing loyalty and support of our customers. You have made Booksmith your community bookstore by participating in our adventures by making recommendations about books to carry, attending events and suggesting authors to host. We will continue to be here, good books will be here, and with your support, we plan to be here for many more years to come.
 
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FINALLY - here's a BOOKstore that has actually figured out that you can sell eBOOKS to people who like to READ BOOKS. this makes the whole powell's thing (where they pretty much just use the mere existence of ebooks as an excuse for slowly going out of business while making no adjustment to their business model besides firing shitloads of people) seem even more ridiculous. i feel pretty lucky to live near forward-thinking bookstores like these two (which are probably three miles apart from each other).

...
As you've probably heard, Borders has filed for bankruptcy and is closing 200 of its remaining 600 stores, including two in San Francisco (Union Square and Market Street). We've been hearing lots of concern about Green Apple's future, so we'd like to address this transitional moment.​
While we were never fans of Borders' aggressive expansion, which effectively shut down hundreds of locally owned independent bookstores in the US, we will not dance on their grave. They did a lot of things right, which is why they thrived for a while. But in their absence, we're hopeful that fewer chain stores may mean more opportunity for local indie bookstores.​
And more indie stores means a healthier local economy, as indies return 40% more money to their local communities than chains, and indies return 99% more money to their local economy than online competitors. (more here)​
We are also concerned about the impact on publishers, those creative people who produce the "product" that we love and sell. In the midst of a rough economy, the tumultuous evolution of ebooks, and other challenges, they are owed tens of millions of dollars from Borders. That could have a significant ripple effect and compromise their ability to publish new and interesting books. And fewer good new books isn't good for us or our customers. [Update/oops: Not to mention the ripple effect on authors, the true generators of everything worth reading].​
And, of course, we're concerned about our own long-term viability.​
I should start by saying that Green Apple is currently a viable and healthy business, and we'll do everything within reason to keep it that way (sorry, no taqueria in the annex). As long as readers buy enough books from us to keep the lights on, the rent paid, and our staff supported, we'll keep reading, buying, shelving, and displaying good new and used books in all subject areas.​
We've long adapted to the changing marketplace and will continue to do so: we constantly shift the balance of new books to used; we expand and contract sections in response to demand; we introduce and phase out whole lines of merchandise based on what you're buying.​
What else is Green Apple doing to remain vital?​
Well first, we're selling Google ebooks. These are device-agnostic, cloud-based ebooks that you can access on any device (except Amazon's proprietary Kindle), any time, anywhere. And for most titles, Green Apple's price will match everyone else's, including Apple's, Amazon's, and Google's. We've just finished training our staff, and we invite customers to ask us questions--in the store, by phone, or via email--about getting started. We can help those who already have a device or those thinking of trying ebooks for the first time.​
We've also spruced the place up a bit, installing new flooring in two rooms and expanding our children's section significantly.​
We're honing (but not eliminating) our DVD and CD selection to make room for more of what you want, including literature in translation, remainders, and gifts.​
And we're doing more in-store author events, all of which are free and entertaining. We know you want to get away from your computer every once in a while and talk to other book-lovers.​
And we've upgraded our computer system to better serve you. And we've improved boring back-end stuff, too, for better efficiency.​
And we will continue to hire, train, and give benefits to the good booksellers who keep the store vital and dynamic. We've provided health insurance for our employees for over 25 years, and we don't even tack a "Healthy San Francisco" surcharge on your tab (tempting as it is).​
We will continue to collect and remit the sales tax (unlike Amazon) that keeps public schools open and public transportation running. We will continue to donate gift cards and books and money to the 100+ schools and organizations that we support each year. We will continue to support local authors by taking their books on consignment and hosting their readings. We will continue to be the booksellers who have fun. And we will continue to support live literary arts, like the Literary Death Match and Litquake and Writers with Drinks.​
Like other local business owners (but unlike chains and internet retailers), the owners and employees of Green Apple live, work, study, invest, and play in San Francisco. We care about our city.​
But it's really up to you, our customers. If you think Green Apple is a necessary part of the San Francisco literary landscape, then shop here, or shop here more often, or bring us new customers, or pay cash, or bring your own bag, or Yelp or blog about us. If you're in "the media," write about us or have us on your show. Forward our email newsletter to friends who read.​
Or if you'd rather shop online, our website is very functional.​
And if you read ebooks, give our Google ebooks a chance. We can help.​
We're here to help you find good books to read, be they new, used, or e. And we're here to offer you much more, like magazines, gifts, a fine selection of greeting cards, CDs, DVDS, and so on.​
But if you'd rather not have a bookstore in your community, shop mostly or only at Amazon. No one should shop at Green Apple out of charity or pity or noblesse oblige, but because you want what we've got. You mold the retail landscape with every purchase; vote wisely.​
http://thegreenapplecore.blogspot.com/2011/02/bookselling-without-borders.html
 
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