by Cindy R. Williams
Hi all, I'm still counting books. Please take a few minutes to close your eyes and do a virtual walk through your home and leave a comment below with how many books you have.
Another question . . . what say you? Ebooks or books you hold in your hand? Which do you prefer?
As we all watch the electronic world make huge changes in the future of books, where do you stand on the issue? Do you think traditional books will eventually become items for museums, or are they here to stay?
Do an Internet search and find rattled opinions. Die-hards are adamant that books will never be obsolete, ebook proponents say that someday soon only ebooks will exist.
What do you think?
I don't have a ton of books, because we are functioning on a grad school budget, and must rely on the library. probably only a hundred or so (unless you count kids picture books).
ReplyDeleteI prefer books, for a couple reasons. I make notes on non-fiction books, and that's not super easy in an ereader (or sometimes it's impossible). I flag pages of stuff I want to look up (words, references to other books, facts, etc) even in fiction, and that's impossible in an ereader. I also flip back and forth to reference things, and that's BEYOND annoying in an ereader.
Lastly, I think the idea of an all ereader society is. A little conspiratorial for me. Think of dystopias like "Matched" or "Fahrenheit 451"... Nobody has books, so the information is controlled. If all our books are delivered electronically and can be monitored so easily, what happens to our freedom?
Just something to think about.
Thanks for your insightful comment Gina. Please comment again with how many kids picture books you have also. Children's picture books ABSOLUTELY COUNT.
DeleteMy daughter just updated our "catalog" of the YA/MG books in our house and we have 505 books. I'm not sure when we'll get to cataloging the adult fiction and non-fiction.
ReplyDeleteI'm comfortable with a book I hold in my hand or an ereader. With the first, I don't have to worry about the battery dying or a glare. But I do love how many books I can store on an ereader. We had to purged a huge stack of Nancy Drew books to make those 505 books we have fit on the shelves we have, and that only lasted until the kids received more books for their birthdays!
I just blogged about my book addiction but I have no where near 11,000+ books! Don't know if you were joking or not, but I sure wish I had a ton more. I probably would if I didn't purge a bunch each year.
ReplyDeleteAnyway, I prefer actually having and holding a real book in my hands as well. I did just learn how to download eBooks to my iPad and I can see how that would come in handy (especially when the books are being offered free!) but I still prefer the real thing.
Hi Leslie, the 11,900 + books are not all mine. I am doing a straw poll of the readers of this blog and how many books we total together. I personally have around 3,500, but the other 7,500 + books come from all of you. With Gina's 505 and Reagan's 505 and Teri, we will guess 800 for her, we are now up to we now have 13,305 and counting!
DeleteBeats me. I'm looking at the shelves and laughing because I don't have room for the ones I have and a bunch on a list once I get gainfully employed again.
ReplyDeleteOkay Terri, I am counting 800 for you. Does this sound about right?
ReplyDeleteHmmmm - too many to count!! I have FIVE very large, ceiling to floor overflowing bookcases + two small bookcases in the family room, one in the kids' play room, two in the office, three in the bedroom,dozens of boxes in storage in the back storage unit and TWO rented storage units with probably 30-40 more boxes of books from my years of teaching. Good grief. I could start my own library but I know I couldn't hazard a guess. I'm just plain addicted to the written word. Sigh....
ReplyDelete