E-book Reader Vs Physcial Text book

Roguetadhg

I like the books. However, moving the small library isn't easy... they sure do look nice on a shelf!

My brief stint with ereaders are this: I can't write notes, highlight, transferring notes is a pain in the royal patoot. Not to mention after a while they get heavy.

With that said, They are handy to read. If they weren't such a target to steal, I'd be more apt to buy one, and carry with it. Where, I don't know because I don't like the small screens. iPad, for example is a good size for me.

Princessh1977

This thread has given me a lot to consider on this topic.

tpatt100

SteveLord wrote: »

As with any other digital distributions, you don't really own eBooks. Bought my wife a Kindle in Feb for her birthday and she has barely touched it. Oh well, I was hero of the day for about 15 minutes.

Technically I think you really don't own much of anything IP related. Music and movies allow you to use the media it is on but once it is gone you don't get another automatically.

historian1974

For technical books, I prefer e-books. Everything else, I prefer a physical book. There's nothing like the tactile feel of turning pages.

StussyNz

historian1974 wrote: »

For technical books, I prefer e-books. Everything else, I prefer a physical book. There's nothing like the tactile feel of turning pages.

You do, what e-reader are you using to read technical books as most e-readers have formatting issues.

tpatt100

I haven't noticed any formatting issues "yet". Formatting issues I run into is usually the lesser known titles, self published stuff it seems.

jibbajabba

tpatt100 wrote: »

self published stuff it seems.

Or converted stuff ..

ccnxjr

I like e-books for recreational reading, I have one of the first gen Nooks
Love the e-ink, after staring at backlit screens all day my eyes need a break !

However, I do prefer traditional paper texts for studying mostly for the following (personal) reasons:
1) I can scribble notes in the corner and paperclip summaries from other pieces of paper.
I find the physical act of forming letters to be a bit more productive than pressing keys when it comes to retention.

2) If I stumble across something vaguely familiar I can quickly skip back and glance at pages past or compare/contrast two pages without resizing.

3) With enough desk space I can look at two different books that cover the same topic and compare each author's explanation without resizing .

4) I can quickly skim topics as a refresher, while finding my place, I can't get the scrolling pace just right on an LCD and I'm not fond ofsimply jumping to the last place I left off . The act of page turning and looking topics , keywords or highlighted phrases on my way to where I left off provides some sort of re-enforcement or reminder of what was covered earlier.

5) People are more impressed when you open a large text book and find your way to the middle as opposed to just whipping out an e-reader :P

6) If its a decent book, someone on the train or park might be familiar with the author or topic, or simply be curious based on the cover, a good conversation starter
This has multiple purposes, in school once I was about to settle down with some Statistics homework and someone approached me, they were in a different class and needed assistance with a topic, they wondered if I could help. If I wasn't walking around with a statistics textbook they would've never guessed I was studying the same topic.

I have noticed formatting issues especially with diagrams!
If you ever load up Odom's ICND 1 or ICND 2 pdf to an e-reader it totally mangles the diagrams.
I've seen this with a few other texts as well.
Converting to e-pub fixes some of it, but still not all together.
So , you need to get the e-pub version specifically.


Alas, I do LOVE my physical books, however my living space is limited and I've had to leave some outdoors and hope they find a good home

Roguetadhg

I was reading my CCNP:Route book at a birthday party, and the neighbor struck up a conversation - which has his CISSP. With an ereader, I probably wouldn't have known.

historian1974

StussyNz wrote: »

You do, what e-reader are you using to read technical books as most e-readers have formatting issues.

Kindle app on Asus Transformer Prime. I've had no issues with formatting.

nel

Roguetadhg wrote: »

I was reading my CCNP:Route book at a birthday party, and the neighbor struck up a conversation - which has his CISSP. With an ereader, I probably wouldn't have known.

sounds like an exciting party dude . jkn.

networkjutsu

I prefer ebook nowadays. I started with DX (sold) and now using iPad 2 for reading. I don't have the space to store the books so I leave them at work. Right now, all of 'em are sitting in my trunk since my last day at work was yesterday. I will bring them to the new gig on Monday.

StussyNz

Seriously considering investing in an Ebook reader now. However I might wait and see what the new "IPad" brings before I do splash out. Textbooks here in NZ are just so hard to find cheap/second hand. I've been searching for second hand CCNA text books and have done the usual TradeMe search but haven't managed to find anything.

Don't really see the point in splashing out $60-100 for a new text book, when you could just pay three times the price for a E-Reader which could store multiple books.

However saying that, does anyone know anywhere in New Zealand who do sell 2nd Hand Cisco text books/Material or cheap 1st hand? Cheers.

swild

I had an iPad 2 for a couple of months during my WGU studies and really only liked it for Safari Bookshelf titles. The absolute only downside of a physical textbook is the weight. If I had a train commute, I would have probably kept my iPad but since I am always either at home, work, or the coffee shop when I am studying, the physical books are for me. The other thing to consider is the cost of shipping textbooks to NZ is crazy. I like buying used books and have sold a few to that part of the world and the shipping is astronomical. If I was having to weight purchasing new books vs ebooks, I may have to side with the ebooks.

For non-textbook reading, I always purchase my books from thrift stores and yard sales. I recently even found a brand new book on Perl programming (that I already had on my Amazon wishlist) at a thrift store for $2.

spicy ahi

I'm waiting for the Galaxy Note 2 to show up in the U.S. to pair with my original Ipad. Between the two, I should have a flexible combination of devices to ensure I have connectivity and access to online resources. I do most of my tech reading via the kindle app or on pdfs. Agree though that pleasure reading is best experienced with a good 'ol book. On my last trip, I had a Warhammer 40k omnibus for the 6 hour plane ride as well as a few pdfs (studying for CISSP at the time) and I guess maybe the air pressure dried my eyes out making it harder to stare at the Ipad for very long. The book came in really handy in that instance.

Ivanjam

DevilWAH wrote: »

I general find for a subject I will have 3 or 4 physical books and a copy of one or two on my kindle.

Yep, that's my Mo too...

Mike-Mike

I would like to switch to ebooks, but most of the physical books I get for certs come with cds with testing software.. maybe I'm mistaken, but I dont think there is anyway to get that with an ebook?

Patel128

I have read that if you can prove that you have a legitimate copy of the book, then the publisher can send you an ISO/real CD. This will not be true for all publishers, but it does not hurt to try.

powerfool

I ran into an issue with an expensive e-book text book that I bought for my class ($65). Most of my books in grad school haven't been text books, but technical books and books on leadership and strategy. This book is an actual text book. I bought it for my Kindle and got a note that I would need to update the software on my Kindle to use it. I checked my updates and I was on the latest firmware. Well, I called Amazon and apparently the book is a special "print replica". Well, the print replicas are essentially a PDF that is encoded for DRM just like traditional Kindle titles are just encoded files... Well, instead of decoding and using the built-in PDF software, it just won't work... it only works on PC, Mac, iPad, and Kindle Fire. Just ridiculous. They were willing to refund, but I need the book and couldn't wait for it to be shipped.

In general, I love my Kindle. I haven't used it as much as I would like because so much of my reading has been IT related stuff that isn't on e-books because of the formatting stuff. Anyhow, I left feedback for having a traditional e-book format would be good too. If I need chapters, I just copy/paste them into Word and then save as HTML and use e-book software I have... but it is a pain, nonetheless.

As far as the college textbook market being a racket... it isn't just them... grade school is pretty bad too. Two of my kids' book rental this year was over $300 each, and that doesn't include their technology fees. Not much new has come about in mathematics recently, especially for the base topics that they are learning. History... just a few years have gone by... they can use news articles and such to cover that, if they choose. Classic literature is still the same. I think I ought to propose to my school board that they extend the use of current text books by three more years. Honestly, when times are tight... I am sure many of you have seen tech refreshes postponed by a year or two to squeeze extra value out of what is already in use... it wouldn't be much different.

networkjutsu

Mike-Mike wrote: »

I would like to switch to ebooks, but most of the physical books I get for certs come with cds with testing software.. maybe I'm mistaken, but I dont think there is anyway to get that with an ebook?

Cisco Press has a Premium Ebook version which includes the software that comes with the physical book. The ebook of the week does not include the software.

Robinwood

I prefer physical books because I cannot spend more time for reading on LCD we can easily get strained!!