An Incomplete Defense of Real Books

Like every other quarter, I placed a huge order for some books on Amazon. I could just borrow most of the books (they are on reserve, sometimes online, and sometimes available on the Kindle). But there are still some reasons I like physical books:

• Cheap -- you can pick up almost any classic novel online for less than a dollar.   If you wait, you can purchase most books for less than $10.
• Durable -- I wouldn't take my iPad to the beach or in the bathtub or throw it in my gym bag
• Long-lived -- how many computer files from the 1980s do you have?  As the geeks over at slashdot point out, storing digital data for the long-term is almost impossible.  
• Purchase once -- how many times have baby boomers purchased The Beatles? Vinyl, 8-track, cassette, CD, mp3 track?  Somehow, I don't think any company will be particularly keen to let you upgrade to a new format for free.

Some other things that I like about the physicality of books:

• They are their own reminders -- one of the things I find hardest about e-books is remembering what it is I want to read.  A book by my bedside, however, functions as its own reminder.
• Notes in margins -- better, by far, than any other highlighting system on e-books.
• Speed of reading -- when I am really trying to digest a book fast, I keep a book mark in the end notes, a book mark in the table of contents, dash through page after page, and will sometimes read in multiple different places at once.
• You can judge a book by its cover.
• You can make a library -- 20 feet of books is impressive (I've read all of those!) in a way that 20 gigs of books is not (I downloaded all of those because they were free and I thought, yeah, maybe I will be on a flight or something and have my iPad and can read the Count of Monte Cristo.  I will download it just in case.)

Anyway, some new purchases that I am excited to start:

Understanding the Book of Mormon -- got a decent NYTimes review, but can't find it right now

Never Let Me Go -- Trailer here.

The Guns of August

All Creatures Great and Small

An Intimate History of Killing

Eurasian Crossroads: A History of Xinjiang

The Collapse of the Soviet Military