Hacker News new | ask | show | jobs
by zaphod12 2201 days ago
You aren't alone, but you are also incorrect. Ebooks are already very mainstream. Doesn't mean physical books are dead - over time sales of physical books have gone down and sales of ebooks have risen. (though this has been relatively steady of late - ebooks make up 20% of sales)

fwiw, I hate ebooks for references because flipping around is pretty tough - but as someone who loves to travel and loves to read, being able to bring a single ebook reader has been life changing.

1 comments

Don’t get me wrong I make it a point to collect as many ebooks as I can but I never read them. I feel through them now and then with some regex but I would never stare at a screen for hours just reading. Paper is softer on the eyes and it doesn’t take fossil fuel for them to continue existence and use. Until renewable energy makes up more than 50% of our energy sources, I hold that paper books are more environmentally friendly than ebooks as they do not require electricity to use or to store, additionally they permanently trap carbon in a useful way. Everyone is itching for everything to be “smart” but we don’t necessarily gain a benefit of making everything electronic