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Internet making books outdated

Former MemberFormer Member Posts: 1,876,323 The Mix Honorary Guru
Do you still walk into a bookshop and buy non-fiction to read? The worldwide web has an endless wealth of webinfo, which can so easily turn people away from real books and rely on the internet and computer screen in front. Why pay for a book, read it once and then wonder what to do with it
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Comments

  • Former MemberFormer Member Posts: 1,876,323 The Mix Honorary Guru
    I don't think so. A book is something you take in the bath or to bed or just to curl up with and relax. Sitting in front of a bright computer screan no matter how comfortable the chair is not my idea of a relaxing night.

    When I have to read articles for school online cuz I don't want to waste my paper by printing them out I get so frustrated. It is awful.

    And I keep all my books. A bookshelf or two is a wonderful addition to any home :p If you don't want to keep it you can give it away, you can sell it... or instead of buying it in the first place there is this place... I've heard... it could be made up... but it is a building where people can go and borrow books for free. After reading you then return them. Kind of a genius idea... I'm sure it is quite a new concept ;)
  • Former MemberFormer Member Posts: 1,876,323 The Mix Honorary Guru
    I don't think so. A book is something you take in the bath or to bed or just to curl up with and relax. Sitting in front of a bright computer screan no matter how comfortable the chair is not my idea of a relaxing night.

    When I have to read articles for school online cuz I don't want to waste my paper by printing them out I get so frustrated. It is awful.

    And I keep all my books. A bookshelf or two is a wonderful addition to any home :p If you don't want to keep it you can give it away, you can sell it... or instead of buying it in the first place there is this place... I've heard... it could be made up... but it is a building where people can go and borrow books for free. After reading you then return them. Kind of a genius idea... I'm sure it is quite a new concept ;)

    :thumb: All of this
  • Former MemberFormer Member Posts: 1,876,323 The Mix Honorary Guru
    There is also the issue that 99.99% (well, a bit less but you get the message) of all essays, studies and claims found on the internet are complete gargabe produced by all kinds of fruitcakes and conspiraloons.

    While it is possible to come across the odd piece of garbabe in the printed world, the process and cost of writing, publishing, printing and distributing a book naturally filters out most of the loonies.
  • Former MemberFormer Member Posts: 1,876,323 The Mix Honorary Guru
    The Internet is great for many things but one of the things it's great for is LIES.

    A girl at my university (not me!) did her entire dissertation based on online material and used hardly any books. She is now repeating the last year of university again.

    I love the internet for up to the minute information however if I want to get the solid facts on something I will look at a book.

    And I love curling up with a book in bed, my laptop just makes my brain hum and can't switch off.
  • Former MemberFormer Member Posts: 1,876,323 The Mix Honorary Guru
    The Internet is great for many things but one of the things it's great for is LIES.

    A girl at my university (not me!) did her entire dissertation based on online material and used hardly any books. She is now repeating the last year of university again.

    I love the internet for up to the minute information however if I want to get the solid facts on something I will look at a book.

    I think this is crap. There's plenty of published material available on the internet. I did nearly all my degree research on the internet, published sources not the likes of wikipedia (not that I have anything against wikipedia, it's very useful), and I got a 2.1. The internet is incredibly useful for researching, you can find what you want in a matter of moments rather than wild goose chases round the library looking for something that may or may not be in a book somewhere.

    However I don't think computers will be able to replace reading for pleasure, there's just something about curling up with a good book that's hard to place, but equally hard to replace
  • Former MemberFormer Member Posts: 1,876,323 The Mix Honorary Guru
    I have a book, a guide to understanding islam.

    Its much better than having it on the computer.
  • Former MemberFormer Member Posts: 1,876,323 The Mix Honorary Guru
    Aladdin wrote: »
    There is also the issue that 99.99% (well, a bit less but you get the message) of all essays, studies and claims found on the internet are complete gargabe produced by all kinds of fruitcakes and conspiraloons.

    While it is possible to come across the odd piece of garbabe in the printed world, the process and cost of writing, publishing, printing and distributing a book naturally filters out most of the loonies.

    I agree, lots of the school level essays online are shared by people who think it's wonderful. Nothing beats a proper hard textbook. However at university during research some good articles can be found on the net. Still, it's wiser to use uni library as your main reference source
    MrG wrote: »
    I have a book, a guide to understanding islam.

    Its much better than having it on the computer.

    Yes, a book on islam is tangible and being 'hard' and held in your hand it's symbolic. As opposed to found a website on understanding Islam. This would be a token gesture
  • Former MemberFormer Member Posts: 1,876,323 The Mix Honorary Guru
    While I find I can learn lots of things, especially facts and figures and interesting bits of trivia, I find reading books makes it far easier, not just to learn something, but to understand it as well.
  • Former MemberFormer Member Posts: 1,876,323 The Mix Honorary Guru
    I MUCH prefer books. Always have and probably always will.

    They're easier on the eye for reading, as ^mentioned you can take them all over the place (laptop + bath = no yuo!), easier to annotate, and I think there's an attraction to having a well-thumbed copy of a favourite book (like my well-worn copy of Hitchikers Guide to the Galaxy :D) that no electronic copy can match.

    I much prefer reading books for training - even though it's about IT-related matters. I suppose dual-screens is a good compromise, but still, books all the way!
  • Former MemberFormer Member Posts: 1,876,323 The Mix Honorary Guru
    I am a very big internet user but my book collection is ever growing, I never read a book once, for example (ok may be childish) but i've read his dark materials over 20times (the hole trillogy) thats almost twice a year from the age of 10.

    however I do sometimes use E-books when working, easier to get away with. as they cannie see you if you his Alt F4 quick enough.
  • Former MemberFormer Member Posts: 1,876,323 The Mix Honorary Guru
    kangoo wrote: »
    I think this is crap. There's plenty of published material available on the internet. I did nearly all my degree research on the internet, published sources not the likes of wikipedia (not that I have anything against wikipedia, it's very useful), and I got a 2.1. The internet is incredibly useful for researching, you can find what you want in a matter of moments rather than wild goose chases round the library looking for something that may or may not be in a book somewhere.

    However I don't think computers will be able to replace reading for pleasure, there's just something about curling up with a good book that's hard to place, but equally hard to replace

    Maybe the person used wikipedia and other bogus personal sites. I know I'll go to Jstor or Ebsco in a heartbeat as opposed to going to the library and trudging through the few journals they have anyways. The likelyhood that they'll have the journal/periodical let alone the right volume and article is rare anyways. I'd guess most people do all their research on the internet, you just can't be a retard in how you do it. Researching online scholarly databases or typing in your topic into google and going with the first few websites is hugely different.
  • Former MemberFormer Member Posts: 1,876,323 The Mix Honorary Guru
    You don't get the satisfied feeling of breaking a book's spine* with the internet :D

    *so I'm told. *Not a spine breaker* :cool:
  • Former MemberFormer Member Posts: 1,876,323 The Mix Honorary Guru
    I've recently got interested in history again and I have to say that whilst the internet can offer some basic facts it remains a long way away from the depth of knowledge provided by books on the same non-fiction.

    A quick google search about the Civil Wars in the 1600s provides a basic overview of the events, but £40 worth of books provided over 3,000 pages of interpretation, opinion, personal testament and social and religious perspective on the same events.

    One thing I have found is that non-fiction in book shops is increasingly poorly categorised, something that's lead to me doing an English History Degree just for the reading list and direction - however I'd much rather trawl a bookshop for a printed copy of all of Cromwell's letters than a 300 word description from Wikipedia.

    To be honest I find the internet wonderful for factual information about the 2nd series of Ghost in the Shell or how the UK Transformer comics changed the perspective of what the franchise could achieve - but as an alternative to 400 years of written documents about the influence of the Covenantors on the Civil Wars, it has a long way to go.
  • Former MemberFormer Member Posts: 1,876,323 The Mix Honorary Guru
    Does the UK have a half.com... a subsidy(... is that the word?) of ebay? I'm not sure how to see if there is, else I wouldn't ask... I buy all my textbooks off there and if you are interested in books thats the place to go.

    This semester, minus shipping, I bought 6 books for $20 total. The school bookstore was selling the cheapest book for $15.
  • Former MemberFormer Member Posts: 1,876,323 The Mix Honorary Guru
    startrekpadd.jpg

    Star Trek clearly shows the way forward.
  • Former MemberFormer Member Posts: 1,876,323 The Mix Honorary Guru
    Hellfire wrote: »
    I am a very big internet user but my book collection is ever growing, I never read a book once, for example (ok may be childish) but i've read his dark materials over 20times (the hole trillogy) thats almost twice a year from the age of 10.

    however I do sometimes use E-books when working, easier to get away with. as they cannie see you if you his Alt F4 quick enough.

    You're a bookworm
    go_away wrote: »
    You don't get the satisfied feeling of breaking a book's spine* with the internet :D

    *so I'm told. *Not a spine breaker* :cool:
    It's possible to hold sentiments for your books in a way you can't feel for a webpage or e-book
  • Former MemberFormer Member Posts: 1,876,323 The Mix Honorary Guru
    Jim V wrote: »
    I've recently got interested in history again and I have to say that whilst the internet can offer some basic facts it remains a long way away from the depth of knowledge provided by books on the same non-fiction.

    A quick google search about the Civil Wars in the 1600s provides a basic overview of the events, but £40 worth of books provided over 3,000 pages of interpretation, opinion, personal testament and social and religious perspective on the same events.

    One thing I have found is that non-fiction in book shops is increasingly poorly categorised, something that's lead to me doing an English History Degree just for the reading list and direction - however I'd much rather trawl a bookshop for a printed copy of all of Cromwell's letters than a 300 word description from Wikipedia.

    To be honest I find the internet wonderful for factual information about the 2nd series of Ghost in the Shell or how the UK Transformer comics changed the perspective of what the franchise could achieve - but as an alternative to 400 years of written documents about the influence of the Covenantors on the Civil Wars, it has a long way to go.


    What he said. I've just being reading Trevor Royle's Civil War (as an aside as a primer on the Civil War its pretty good, though overly kind to the butcher Cromwell). I could read it on the Underground, sitting on the couch, in bed etc. I just couldn't do that with the internet, nor is there one site which covers it in the depth Royle does. What the internet is useful for is sometimes adding a bit of depth to minor characters who the author mentions in depth and then doesn't add again.

    I'm now reading Maxh Hasting's Nemesis, which if I tried to read on the Blackberry I'd go blind
  • Former MemberFormer Member Posts: 1,876,323 The Mix Honorary Guru
    KiwiFruit wrote: »
    You're a bookworm


    It's possible to hold sentiments for your books in a way you can't feel for a webpage or e-book
    I sure am a bookworm, I can if given time finish of a good long novel within a week.
  • Former MemberFormer Member Posts: 1,876,323 The Mix Honorary Guru
    Does the UK have a half.com... a subsidy(... is that the word?) of ebay? I'm not sure how to see if there is, else I wouldn't ask... I buy all my textbooks off there and if you are interested in books thats the place to go.

    This semester, minus shipping, I bought 6 books for $20 total. The school bookstore was selling the cheapest book for $15.

    damn, that's good. Every chemist who works in the field of organic chemistry owns at least 2-3 organic books. Many of them 4 and more.

    They cost around 50euro and up (okey they are really big, but still).
  • Former MemberFormer Member Posts: 1,876,323 The Mix Honorary Guru
    A book that is a good read will never age, regardless of technological advances.
  • Former MemberFormer Member Posts: 1,876,323 The Mix Honorary Guru
    There's some phenomenal free stuff out there - whole books as well - but I just can't get used to reading anything of any length on screen. Been looking at the Sony reader and maybe the kindle because i feel i need to take something off the computer and read in bed or on couch as i do with paper. But not sure if the illuminated screen will also mean i suffer same problems reading on a portable - ie can't read much.
  • Former MemberFormer Member Posts: 1,876,323 The Mix Honorary Guru
    Hear Ye, Hear Ye.. I Disagree..

    For reasons, that you must know.

    Books are marketed, free information is not..

    People buy books because they are marketed..

    People tend to not just spend hours taking webpages putting 2+2 together and having a complete set of information..

    With this in mind, how could this free information spread out over many different webpages be enough to satisfy the needs of the person who wants a complete guide..

    Afterall the book is what is perecived to have the complete and concise information in it's niche, where a snippet of fee information on the web, is conecieved as exactly that.. a snippet.
  • Former MemberFormer Member Posts: 1,876,323 The Mix Honorary Guru
    Hear Ye, Hear Ye.. I Disagree..

    For reasons, that you must know.

    Books are marketed, free information is not..

    People buy books because they are marketed..

    People tend to not just spend hours taking webpages putting 2+2 together and having a complete set of information..

    With this in mind, how could this free information spread out over many different webpages be enough to satisfy the needs of the person who wants a complete guide..

    Afterall the book is what is perecived to have the complete and concise information in it's niche, where a snippet of fee information on the web, is conecieved as exactly that.. a snippet.

    Are you saying in this comparison that books can't be beaten by advent of internet?
  • Former MemberFormer Member Posts: 1,876,323 The Mix Honorary Guru
    Non-fiction books have taken a heavy decline since the internet came along in my opinion - take Encyclopedia Brittanica as an example. Their sales nosedived when Wikipedia came about.

    There are many other places aside from Wikipedia to look for reading materials - I am reading Plutarch's Life of Caesar at the moment - and i doubt i would find that in a bookshop without asking specificly and getting it ordered.

    The thing that good old textbooks will never be beaten on is the depth and opinions. A textbook is he authors interpretation of the facts even when attempting to be impartial, Wikipedia must be totally impartial with complete citations for everything and it makes everything very mechanical, also people are not paid for writing those articles so there is no reason to make any extra effort and provide minute details as a proper historical author might.


    As for fiction: it will never be killed by the internet. Unless they invent a waterproof laptop i can take into the bath with me.
  • Former MemberFormer Member Posts: 1,876,323 The Mix Honorary Guru
    Non-fiction books have taken a heavy decline since the internet came along in my opinion - take Encyclopedia Brittanica as an example. Their sales nosedived when Wikipedia came about.

    But probably a very specific example that... The internet is good for lots of very shallow info - exactly the same as an Encyclopedia. But I've yet to find a site which could contain nearly as much information on the Civil War as Trevor Royle's book or the end of the war with Japan as Max Hastings (and the fact they make money allows the author to do it full-time, travel to find original sources etc).
  • Indrid ColdIndrid Cold Posts: 16,688 Skive's The Limit
    Let's not forget that both books and the internet are just media. What matters is the information that's passed.

    Right now you might be able to find much more information in books (see Flashman's post above for an example) but that's only because people still choose (probably with good reason -but that's a different subject) to publish them as books.
    The day when they decide to publish them on the internet this whole argument will change.
  • Former MemberFormer Member Posts: 1,876,323 The Mix Honorary Guru
    Let's not forget that both books and the internet are just media. What matters is the information that's passed.

    Right now you might be able to find much more information in books (see Flashman's post above for an example) but that's only because people still choose (probably with good reason -but that's a different subject) to publish them as books.
    The day when they decide to publish them on the internet this whole argument will change.

    Sounds like you believe books will become obsolete. Get ready when a paper book is a collectors item and certain ones published are priceless
  • Former MemberFormer Member Posts: 1,876,323 The Mix Honorary Guru
    KiwiFruit wrote: »
    Sounds like you believe books will become obsolete. Get ready when a paper book is a collectors item and certain ones published are priceless

    Or get ready for when you've got to decide between charging your Kindle or heating the house - books are a lot easier to keep running than a computer when the oil runs out :p
  • Former MemberFormer Member Posts: 1,876,323 The Mix Honorary Guru
  • Former MemberFormer Member Posts: 1,876,323 The Mix Honorary Guru
    Books won't disappear, no matter how much Google try to claim otherwise, until they invent a screen that you can write on. In my work I do a fair bit of research and, although I have access to online journals, I still prefer getting the paper copy of the Welfare Benefits handbook, or the legislation, or the student finance regulations. You can annotate them.
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