[assemble]

I don't know why everybody keeps trying to digitize books. I know it's cheaper to give someone a download than to make an actual book, but I'm willing to pay more for a print version. Print versions don't strain my eyes as much as computer version, they also look better in my opinion.

If you try taking notes in almost any engineering class on a computer the symbols are such a pain to input on a computer that it's far easier to take notes on paper. (Plus, I actually remember things that I write. I don't remember a lot of things I type.)

I believe that some things in life don't need to be digitized--textbooks and note-taking are two.

[mechanical_fish]

I don't know why everybody keeps trying to digitize books.

It makes sense when your reading pattern is either:

A) Books sit on the shelf until you want to look something up in them, at which point you take one down, find what you're looking for, read it and/or copy it down, and then put the book back;

B) You decide to read a book, so you take it down and more-or-less read it through. It's especially handy to have a digital version if you're trying to do this on the train.

But if you're doing the kind of research where you cross-reference a large pile of books, or you're studying intensely from a bunch of books at the same time, paging back and forth in each one to cross-reference it with itself -- i.e. if you're doing academic research or taking college classes -- yeah, e-books are pretty lousy. But you won't be in college forever. And I find that once I've moved my physical book collection around enough times I get pretty tired of having a physical book collection.

[assemble]

I suppose there are a few applications where e-books are handy, but if I'm traveling I normally read magazines. The idea of reading while commuting would be bad: I live in the Midwest--there isn't much in the way of public transit.

I'm not in college anymore, but I sold the books back unless they were particularly interesting. Even now, I prefer to buy programming reference books than using online references. If I can only find a manual online, half of the time I wind up printing it out and putting it in a binder. I write lots of stuff in the margins of reference books.