You like the idea of eBooks, but ....

[Steve Rindsberg]

... fear you'll miss the sensory aspect of reading real books?

This may help:

http://smellofbooks.com/

[ktinkel]

Am I confused? I didn’t think it was April Fools’ Day …

[Steve Rindsberg]

Am I confused? I didn’t think it was April Fools’ Day …
Leftovers?

And I heard that Amazon's buying the technology to include in next-gen Kindles.

[terrie]

ROFL!!!

And...

They even offer different scents (http://smellofbooks.com/aromas/)...'-}}

And here's their warning (http://smellofbooks.com/about/warnings/) text:

Warnings and Legal Disclaimers

Please use in well ventilated area. May cause dizziness and hallucinations. May cause itching and runny nose. If symptoms persist for longer than eight weeks please consult your physician. Not for use on “real” books. Do not use while riding public transportation. Discard empty container with hazardous waste. Not for use as a room deodorizer. Not for use on burning books. Do not use on a Zune.


Terrie

[ktinkel]

... fear you'll miss the sensory aspect of reading real books?Seriously now, I do find something is missing. Not sensory, exactly, but something that having a real book in my hands provides — a locale, maybe.

Reminders of what I am reading: the art on the cover, the title, author’s name; lists of other books by the author; copyright date; that kind of stuff.

A sense of weight, or relative thickness, or some other semi-conscious cues to how much is left (the subtle indicator is no substitute).

I also miss the ability to jump back several pages or a chapter or so to catch up (since I often read many books at a time and come and go with them). Sometimes I would swear that Kindle is playing jokes with me, jumping ahead in the story when it is really that I forgot details in my absence from the book.

And I still cringe at visible soft hyphens, lack of sensible hyphenation, rotten justification (with occasional lines left ragged), and other niceties of a good book.

[Steve Rindsberg]

Seriously now, I do find something is missing. Not sensory, exactly, but something that having a real book in my hands provides — a locale, maybe.

Reminders of what I am reading: the art on the cover, the title, author’s name; lists of other books by the author; copyright date; that kind of stuff.

A sense of weight, or relative thickness, or some other semi-conscious cues to how much is left (the subtle indicator is no substitute).

I also miss the ability to jump back several pages or a chapter or so to catch up (since I often read many books at a time and come and go with them). Sometimes I would swear that Kindle is playing jokes with me, jumping ahead in the story when it is really that I forgot details in my absence from the book.

And I still cringe at visible soft hyphens, lack of sensible hyphenation, rotten justification (with occasional lines left ragged), and other niceties of a good book.
That's all quite understandable. I don't so much miss the cover and the "How far am I" indicator works for me, especially when you can see how far along in a book your are w/o even having to open it.

But it'd be much more friendly if one could easily flip to the TOC, index, frontispiece and so on. And it'd indeed be nice to be able to jump by chapters instead of pages (Ctrl+Previous Page or some such).

There seems to be a wide variety of "finishedness" in Kindle books. Some are just horrible (wacko linebreaks and such) while others work very nicely.