How do you read?

[DLgal]

An audiobook* is "an audiocassette or CD recording of a reading of a book, typically a novel." Granted, this definition should also refer to digital, but it's not my definition.

Anyway, somebody else reading and recording a book is not ME reading the book. They read the book; me listening to it is passive. Someone whose fingers are their eyes are, like me, actively engaged in a way audiobook users aren't.

*Amazon - which owns Audible - wanted me to spellcheck the word, but did not make the same suggestion when using the two individual words.

https://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/audiobook

Listening is not a passive activity. At all.

 

[Snowysmom]

I love to hold a book. I love the feeling, turning the pages, and the smell of the book. I worked in libraries as a paraprofessional over the years. My favorite job was in technical services processing the books for the shelves. I loved to open a box of new paperbacks. They were so pristine and had the new paper smell. Of course, working in that department, if a book was not on hold for someone and I wanted to take it out, I did! I would have a stack of books by my chair at home. I miss those days. But, I do like to download and read books on my Nook too.

 

[Nox]

I prefer print books. I find I rarely retain much from an e-book (and science supports me on this - the loss of tactile sense in reading can result in lower retention.) But some books, it's convenient to have in electronic form, like textbooks and references.

 

[pigletto]

I vastly prefer to read from a print book and I was really reluctant to switch to ebooks . I had to because it’s the only way to get things from the library during the pandemic.
I have found two distinct advantages to the ebooks. I can read in bed without keeping my husband awake because the screen is lit and I don’t need a lamp. I also really like being able to adjust the size of the text.
Overall reading feels more authentic to me with a book in my hand.

 

[GreatLakes]

I only read physical books. In just about every other aspect of my life I go for the most technological solution I can but I absorb material much better when I have a physical book where I highlight sentences and write notes on the pages. I read stuff that is related to my work, business in general, and books related to health and fitness and all of them I read like I'm studying the book, not just reading to pass some time or for fun.

 

[pookybean]

I vastly prefer to read from a print book and I was really reluctant to switch to ebooks . I had to because it’s the only way to get things from the library during the pandemic.
I have found two distinct advantages to the ebooks. I can read in bed without keeping my husband awake because the screen is lit and I don’t need a lamp. I also really like being able to adjust the size of the text.
Overall reading feels more authentic to me with a book in my hand.

I usually wear contacts but wear glasses while reading in bed. I do love that with my kindle i can read in bed without my glasses on and the light off.

 

[FlightlessDuck]

I voted "Combination of All 3", because I don't do any of them exclusively. The vast majority of my reading is as e-books, but not 100%. I have a physical book of a brand new novel coming in July (only because I got a signed copy), I listened to Between the World and Me and A Christmas Carol as audiobooks last year. But 90-95% of my reading is on a kindle.

 

[Lumpy1106]

I prefer print books. I find I rarely retain much from an e-book (and science supports me on this - the loss of tactile sense in reading can result in lower retention.) But some books, it's convenient to have in electronic form, like textbooks and references.

Professional Engineer - I've found E-book references are the hardest thing to get used to. I used to have a full collection of references with post-it tabs in all of them. There was something about the physical flipping of the pages that made it so much easier to search the references for what I needed. Searching through a PDF just isn't the same. I will say though, without e-book references I'd be pretty SOL right now. It was pretty easy to grab the thumb drive with all of my references when we bugged out of the office for this extended period of work-at-home. I would have had to go back at least once if all I had was physical copies of those references.

 

[Moliphino]

I said exclusively print books. I have read a couple ebooks (mostly short stories that aren't in print), but I would never choose an ebook over a physical book.

I can't do audio books, I'd zone out and miss 90% of it.

 

[Atlas722]

Exclusively print books.