Jun 08 2009
Reading books online??
I attended a librarians’ conference last week and at some stage we got into a discussion about wether or not reading books online will ever take off. After thinking about this, I came to the conclusion that I was in any case doing most of my reading online. I still love books and I don’t think this will ever change, but I definitely do not have a lot of time to actually read a saucy novel curled up in bed or on the sofa. The “sad” reality of my life is that I am mostly curled up with my laptop, reading blogs and articles and bookmarking them for distribution to my learning networks. The only time I get to indulge myself (and it is a specific treat for me now) is when I visit my house in Hogsback (paradise). There you just have to sit in front of the fireplace with a good book or go and read it next to the stream or something!
I am trying to get my mind around actually reading whole books online and set out to see what is available. I was inspired to find a treasure cove of goodies online. In the past I have mainly downloaded ebooks in PDF format for offline reading. I on principle never print ebooks, as it is a far more costly exercise as actually buying the book and having that fresh book smell welcoming you every time you turn a page. I must also admit to never actually reading a whole book online, just snippets of text here and there for use in papers and articles. If there is anyone who would read a book online, surely it will be me?
So I have decided to investigate some book options and am busy making a listing of all free e-book sites for our new librarians blog (see lists there) . I could not believe the variety and depth of free e-book collections from all over the internet. You can download books in a variety of formats from audiobooks to photobooks and more. You can subscribe to get a book delivered in your e-mail inbox on a daily basis in smallish chunks and of course, you can buy a Kindle or read books on your cellphone for those wasteful occasions where you are forced to spend time stuck in a que.
While I was busy with my investigations my learning network friends @rashkath and @russeltarr shared some books with me. The one book was made by a grade 3 teacher for/by her class. I like the page turning effects worked into the site….
So what do you think? Should we start burning our dusty books yet?
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I have never read an entire book online. I teach in a 1:1 school and we read shorter works and excerpts of novels online, but when assigned an entire novel I assign a paperback edition of the novel rather than an ebook. In researching online versions of short stories, poems, and novels for my World Literature class, I found a wealth of online books. However, when it is time for me to choose a book to read personally, I never go to the list of online books I know about. I always choose a print edition. I too read articles, blogs, research online daily, but find it hard to find time to read novels. When I do have time to read a novel, I choose print. I wonder if it is because reading a novel in print is a nice break from the my laptop, i.e., a true break from work? In the rare down time I do take, I so enjoy curling up with a novel on my sofa or a chair reading a novel with my head on a pillow. Not sure that would work with my tablet…
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Hi Kelly,
Thank you for your reply. You sound just like me
But then it opens up another issue all together and that is- why are we scanning and collecting online books when we have no intention of reading it “online” as in…. on the computer?
Printing it out is out! To many dead trees comes to mind and quite frankly, very few school teachers /learners in South Africa will be able to afford the cost of printing out books to read.
Mmmmm……
I do know that the HSRC (see their free download book collection here http://www.hsrcpress.ac.za/) has tripled their actual book sales by making their books available for free download online. So I suppose we all just like to scan little pieces online and then if it grabs our interest, go out and buy the books?
Oh yes I have had some feedback from my other networks as well: NO they do NOT read novels/books online….
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Dear Maggie
No online search could beat the indulgence of wandering in to a book shop on a cold winter’s day, scanning the shelves, then curling up in an armchair to page through a possible purchase. Please let’s make sure our children have this experience too! Sitting bolt upright with a laptop – even in bed – just doesn’t have the same appeal as turning a real page while snuggled under the duvet…
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