E-Books and Real Books - Digital Reading and the Experience of Bookness

"This book explores a paradox of the digital reading revolution: mass adoption without full acceptance that e-books are 'real books'. Drawing on original data from a longitudinal study, it investigates how movement between conceptions of e-books as ersatz books, digital proxies, and incomplete books serves readers in unexpected ways"--

List of contents

List of figures; Acknowledgements; Introduction; 1. Bookness; 2. Paratexts and first impressions: taking a chance on an e-book; 3. Ownership and permanence: e-book transactions; 4. Materiality, convenience, and customization: e-books and the act of reading; 5. Reading lives and reading identities: genre, audience, and being a reader of e-books; Coda; Notes.

About the author

Laura Dietz is a Lecturer in Publishing at University College London. She speaks and publishes widely on reading, authorship, and digital literary culture, serving on related prize, festival, and conference committees, editorial boards, and the Board of Directors of the Society for the History of Authorship, Reading and Publishing.

Summary

Laura Dietz explores a paradox of the e-book revolution: mass adoption without full acceptance as 'real books'. Drawing on new data, she investigates how conceptions of e-books as ersatz, digital proxy, and incomplete books serve readers in unexpected ways. This title is also available as Open Access on Cambridge Core.

Foreword

Drawing on new reader data, Laura Dietz explores e-books' unstable realness, and the roles 'unreal' books play in our lives.

Product details

• Authors: Laura Dietz, Laura (University College London) Dietz
• Publisher: Cambridge University Press ELT
• Languages: English
• Product format: Hardback
• Released: 31.12.2024
• EAN: 9781009490764
• ISBN: 978-1-0-0949076-4
• No. of pages: 256
• Subjects: Humanities, art, music > Linguistics and literary studies > Other languages / Other literatures; Social sciences, law, business > Business > Individual industrial sectors, branches; World, Book design, 21st Century, Book design and Bookbinding, Early 21st century c 2000 to c 2050, Publishing industry & book trade, Publishing and book trade, Portable & handheld devices: consumer/user guides