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What Books do you enjoy in physical form?

7 points by treatmesubj ↗ HN
My Grandmother asks what (physical) book I'd like for Christmas each year. Last year I asked for Pro Git. This year I might ask for Data Structures & Algorithms in Python.

I listen to countless audio-books, but don't find myself sitting down to read a physical book except for this strange tech-knowledge niche, where I can learn without it feeling like laptop-work-overtime because it's a physical book. Do you like any particular books in physical form?

8 comments

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vunderba
I'm the exact opposite. I only purchase physical books that have a "timeless quality" to them - so that rules out 99% of tech specific books. Further, I'd vastly prefer a searchable PDF for some random O'Reilly book so I can work through the exercises at my computer easily.

The physical books I have are more like coffee table compendiums around a vast array of subjects that aren't intended to be read sequentially - I can just pick it up and start a random chapter and enjoy them for short sessions. Examples are The Disappearing Spoon, A Short History of Nearly Everything, The Violinist's Thumb, etc.

I'm glad you enjoyed "Pro Git" but that sounds like the kind of thing that I would use as a doctor to place a patient into a medically induced coma.

satvikpendem
Indeed, epics and classics like Gilgamesh, The Count of Monte Cristo, or even Dune are what I'd buy as physical books. The rest are audiobooks, and tech books are digital, so that I can have them side by side on the monitor with my code editor.

> I'm glad you enjoyed "Pro Git" but that sounds like the kind of thing that I would use as a doctor to place a patient into a medically induced coma.

I laughed at this for the last 5 minutes straight.

brudgers
Versus digital? All of them.

For better or worse, I have never come close to actually reading an eBook in the way I experience print.

vismit2000
'Design of Everyday Things' with its beautiful design visuals which generally get missed in audio book.
vintageclothldn
Poor Charlie's Almanack: The Essential Wit and Wisdom of Charles T. Munger released recently through Stripe Books. https://press.stripe.com/poor-charlies-almanack

I read it for the first time on PDF and it is so much more enjoyable in print format. The recent Stripe Press edition is particularly well-crafted. The physical format lets you more easily flip back and forth, underline key insights, and digest Munger's wisdom at your own pace.

dyingkneepad
It seems to me that the market is kinda segmented between "people who read mostly physical books" and "people who read mostly ebooks", with some people consuming both, but usually doing some kind of segmentation for them as well (e.g., fiction vs technical).

I only want physical books. For me, book time is away-from-screen time. So: any book I may want to read?

l33tbro
Love picking up Tao Te Ching and browsing it. Simple, profound, practical.
Quinzel
I prefer any book in physical form. Holding a book in my hands is a far more tactile experience, as you get to feel the cover, and smell the pages, which I always find kind of nice in a weird way. I find it easier to stay focused on a book when I have a real physical book. Often with digital books, I close the app and then forget it exists. Especially books I would only read for leisure.