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[Silverthrone]

Tigers are, on the whole, far less common than power outages and technical breakdowns, however.

I think that is why I'm so hesitant towards buying one of those electronic book reader dohickeys. They seem very practical, but an ordinary book only requires a decent light source to work.

[Flying Dice]

snip

I don't know if he was implying Google maps makes you egocentric in the normal sense. Apparently in map lingo, "egocentric" is the term for a system where the map is oriented around the user. If the map is oriented based on static objects/locations in the world, it's considered "allocentric".

Yeah, sorry. This is what I meant. The thinking (and to a certain extent the research) says that thinking about navigation as you moving through the world is better developmentally than thinking about it as the world moving around you, which is what GPS frames things as. There's been some work done that suggests heavy use of GPS navigation aids and similar things reduces the effectiveness of the hippocampus. There's also the obvious effect that if you're navigating by staring at a screen and listening to a voice, you're not learning the route in the way that you do when looking around at landmarks and the lay of the land. The navigation patterns exhibited by people who are heavily reliant on GPS are much like the patterns exhibited by elderly folks which are related to atrophy of the hippocampus, a primary risk factor for Alzheimer's.

Here's a decent article on the subject for anyone who's interested.

[ChairmanPoo]

Somehow they managed to make a system where everyone at the bottom level feels like they make a difference, but the balance of power at the very top shifts very little.

Oh, the irony...

[TD1]

Tigers are, on the whole, far less common than power outages and technical breakdowns, however.

I think that is why I'm so hesitant towards buying one of those electronic book reader dohickeys. They seem very practical, but an ordinary book only requires a decent light source to work.

In a Percy Jackson book - just after they meet Heracles - they're talking to a river spirit, and he goes on a rant about bound books being way worse than scrolls, etc. I got the obvious reference to ebooks, of course, and I take the point. Still, I am a big fan of books over ebooks. Though, I think we may have had this conversation on Bay12 once too often, heh.

Also, needing decent light source? Pleb. I remember reading in snatches from the light of street lamps we passed under in the car, though now I have phone light.

[Rolan7]

Same here!  I usually caught light from cars behind us, because we were usually on the interstate.
It sucked.  Now I can read on my phone.  Or listen on my phone while I drive.  Someday soon, probably read in the car while it drives.  Technology is great (:

[TD1]

Oh nice, another car reader. Lots of people think it's weird I can read in a car - it makes them feel sick, apparently.

[Frumple]

Plenty of ereader stuff has a backlight these days, anyway. And many of them also have f.lux equivalents if you prefer something gentler on the eyes.

And yes, they're several metric fucktons more practical, convenient, etc. Not only do I carry a small library around in my pocket these days instead of a book, it can easily read .pdf, .html, and so on, so non-standard format/publishing venues, etc., are easily accessed as well. Power can be an issue but eh.

... also it's an android OS so I'm making this post on the thing and all the other junk involved with such. Do recommend, pretty heavily, so long as you can manage the input et al, anyway.

[Silverthrone]

Tigers are, on the whole, far less common than power outages and technical breakdowns, however.

I think that is why I'm so hesitant towards buying one of those electronic book reader dohickeys. They seem very practical, but an ordinary book only requires a decent light source to work.

In a Percy Jackson book - just after they meet Heracles - they're talking to a river spirit, and he goes on a rant about bound books being way worse than scrolls, etc. I got the obvious reference to ebooks, of course, and I take the point. Still, I am a big fan of books over ebooks. Though, I think we may have had this conversation on Bay12 once too often, heh.

Also, needing decent light source? Pleb. I remember reading in snatches from the light of street lamps we passed under in the car, though now I have phone light.

Hah. That is a decent light source, good Sir! _{"Oh, we used to DREAM about reading by passing street lamps! Would've been a palace library to us..."} Good old star light will do, if it is a clear night. Particularly in winter, with the snow lending some more light.

Of course, the old "Hah, look at the luddite making a fool of himself! Oh, I wonder if it could apply today. Almost as if somethings never change, hmm?" chestnut is always a reliable, low-hanging fruit. That said, a low hanging fruit can still take part in a very nice salad.

[Avis-Mergulus]

The only reason that this conversation weirds me out is that it, you know, exists. I mean, I have a ebook, I have a small library of paper books, it's not like the cops are pressuring me to pick one or the other through regular rubber hose beatings. Which is for some reason the tone that this discussion always seems to take.

I have my own old man complaint, though, and this might sound kinda weird, but hear me out: they don't make ebooks like they used to anymore. Like, I had a very old ebook - like, one of the first commercially-available models - and its charge lasted for months, plural, with regular reading. My current ebook loses charge if it's not switched off. What the fuck is the point of a e-ink screen then if it's not requiring power only when refreshed? It seems like there's this push for e-books to become more tablet-like in traits, when a e-book is an inherently non-tablety object to me. I don't want wi-fi. I don't want a touchscreen on a device with a refresh rate of two Hz. I just want the goddamn battery to last, damn it.

[Sirus]

I've amassed a small library of audiobooks over the past few years. Not as good as books or ebooks, but infinitely more practical when your job makes reading text both difficult and somewhat illegal.

[Frumple]

@Av: There probably is a push for that. Most folks seem to like the convenience of having a small mostly-functional computer they can carry around more than they like a charge life measured in weeks. I certainly do, ehehe.

Probably would have gotten an e-ink reader instead of the kindle had it not been a present, but... I don't regret it. You can get everything to work on (some) e-ink stuff, but it's usually more effort than what's involved just dealing with a tweaked android OS, and being able to casually put new stuff on the thing is... nice.

... also, it's totally ebook readers, not just ebook. The ebook's the book file :V

[overseer05-15]

I can read for about half an hour in a car. Then I need a roughly equal break to get rid of the feeling of sickness. Don't know why it happens, probably related to motion sickness, I'd imagine.

Also, I like ebooks for several reasons. 1) Permanently lit 2) lighter than lugging around 30 books 3) I don't wind up accidentally scratching my nail across the paper. That always makes me shudder.

Oh my god I'm not the only one who hates that nail paper thing whenever I try to talk to someone about it they just look at me like I'm an idiot

[Lord Shonus]

The only reason that this conversation weirds me out is that it, you know, exists. I mean, I have a ebook, I have a small library of paper books, it's not like the cops are pressuring me to pick one or the other through regular rubber hose beatings. Which is for some reason the tone that this discussion always seems to take.

I have my own old man complaint, though, and this might sound kinda weird, but hear me out: they don't make ebooks like they used to anymore. Like, I had a very old ebook - like, one of the first commercially-available models - and its charge lasted for months, plural, with regular reading. My current ebook loses charge if it's not switched off. What the fuck is the point of a e-ink screen then if it's not requiring power only when refreshed? It seems like there's this push for e-books to become more tablet-like in traits, when a e-book is an inherently non-tablety object to me. I don't want wi-fi. I don't want a touchscreen on a device with a refresh rate of two Hz. I just want the goddamn battery to last, damn it.

Which one do you have? My Kindle Paperwhite lasts for a month or two if I keep the light on low and put it in airplane mode.

[Rolan7]

Yeah, I really care about my collection of physical books too.  I don't take them off the shelf as much anymore, but sometimes I do, and it can feel nice to leaf through them.  Particularly the big manuals and textbooks.  And I keep a couple of paperback novels in my luggage, just in case anything happens to my phone.  They've quite small!

Battery life isn't usually a problem for me, but I have a sizeable battery pack in my satchel for when I forget to charge (or play a lot of Ingress/Pokemon).  I think my battery lasts about a week anyway if I'm not using the phone much, and a lot longer in airplane mode.  Useful in those places which advertise the lack of cell signal as an advantage   It's like that tin-foil box Retsupurae covered recently...  Stupid.

Actually I just had to upgrade phones since my old one broke, but I think I see the problem (snapped charging port).  It's old enough that I can open it up with a jeweller's screwdriver, and I think I'll be able to get it to charge again.  Even without a data plan, these things are pretty decent little consoles for gaming or reading.  Though it'd be better with buttons and keyboard like the "old" ones ):

I can read for about half an hour in a car. Then I need a roughly equal break to get rid of the feeling of sickness. Don't know why it happens, probably related to motion sickness, I'd imagine.

Also, I like ebooks for several reasons. 1) Permanently lit 2) lighter than lugging around 30 books 3) I don't wind up accidentally scratching my nail across the paper. That always makes me shudder.

Oh my god I'm not the only one who hates that nail paper thing whenever I try to talk to someone about it they just look at me like I'm an idiot

Huh, I don't get that.  My skin crawls if I hear ripping fabric, though.  Something about it drives me crazy.

[hector13]

I can read for about half an hour in a car. Then I need a roughly equal break to get rid of the feeling of sickness. Don't know why it happens, probably related to motion sickness, I'd imagine.

Nausea can be the result of a mismatch of data between the eyes and the inner ear, which basically senses when you're moving.

In the case of the car, your inner ear is telling you you're moving (experiencing the various forces from the car accelerating, decelerating, and turning) while your eyes, glued to the static book, are saying you're not.

It's a defence mechanism. Your body doesn't know if you've eaten something terrible to cause this mismatch, so you get the boke.

If you try to read in such a way that you can see the scenery go by, that should help.

Anyhow, re: book vs. ebook, paper all the way. No need for a battery life, it won't eff up your circadian rhythm, and you can show off your collection. Or in my case, put a lot of it on the floor 'cause there's not enough shelf space.