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tombertyesterday at 4:30 PM7 repliesview on HN

I read a lot, and I own a lot of physical books, but I almost never actually read physical books anymore. I'm one of the happy few that used my Kindle for more than a week after getting it as a gift.

I find that reading on an ereader is many times easier for me, primarily because I can make the text gigantic and I don't lose track of my place on the page nearly as often. I'm not dyslexic (I've been tested), but I do think that there's some issue with my brain where if the text is small I really can't follow it. On all my computers the text is gigantic and even then I will click and highlight text as I'm reading so don't lose place. I would love to be paid to read but I don't think I'd love to be paid to read physical books.

I remember my grandmother was wholly unconvinced that my Kindle was a different thing than an iPad or a Game Boy, and that it was not "real" reading, for whatever reason.


Replies

sienyesterday at 11:46 PM

I don't think you're one of the happy few.

You're more like one of the happy many.

Amazon has sold an estimated 70 million Kindle readers.

Ebook sales are at least 20% of book sales.

I read 60+ books a year. Almost all on my Kindle. My partner and my sister are similar. I know of one person who has bought a Kindle and not used it much.

Australians alone are reading 1.6 billion pages a month on Kindles.

https://www.techguide.com.au/news/gadgets-news/australians-d...

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muldercyesterday at 4:38 PM

One thing I do with my students is show them how to adjust text size and have them try out larger sizes. I think a surprisingly large number of people have never even attempted to change the text size on their devices and many can benefit from something different than the defaults.

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rapidfltoday at 6:42 AM

> primarily because I can make the text gigantic and I don't lose track of my place on the page nearly as often... where if the text is small I really can't follow it. On all my computers the text is gigantic

+1 I prefer the Kindle for the exact same reasons.

I used to read a lot of physical books. But I can't tolerate physical books after I started reading on the Kindle, especially books with tiny text.

Plus it is easier to keep a better posture with the Kindle.

But it still does not feel so good to buy Kindle ebooks. Somehow purchasing physical books seems more justifiable.

walt_gratayesterday at 4:47 PM

I swap between kindle and audible daily. The syncing is generally good, byt i have had issues with some books.

This alone has caused my reading to skyrocket. I swear i do 1-2 books a week this way

matwoodyesterday at 4:49 PM

I don't have a Kindle, but I've been reading books exclusively on my phone since I had a 3gs IIRC. I've increased the text size over the years and love having the 2-3 books I'm typically reading at once readily available.

damontalyesterday at 5:10 PM

What’s annoying is when you want to look back at something earlier in the book. Then you have to use the clunky search and hope you don’t lose your current place.

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lofaszvanittyesterday at 5:26 PM

An you bought one for her.

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