Homebrew books on Kindle

For you Kindle users out there, if you were buying homebrewing books today would you buy the paperback or Kindle versions?

I'm on the edge of ordering one now but am having trouble weighing the costs and benefits. I don't read much fiction or current best-sellers, and what fiction I do read is normally older. After going through all the books I have saved in my cart, I wouldn't save any money by buying digital copies. Saving space and having less physical items around is the main benefit to me.

Basically I am wondering how well the charts translate and whether the Kindle is better or worse for reference material in practice (advantage search, disadvantage remembering where to open a book)

paper. I like my kindle for bedtime stories.

Kindle for iPad. I can't stand dealing with actual books anymore, I was trying to read an actual magazine in bed the other night and it was cumbersome.

I absolutely LOVE my Kindle. It's great for reading both fiction, and non-fiction. I travel a fair amount for work and I really like being able to take anything I want with me and still only have to carry one small device.

However having said that, every brewing book I own is in hard copy. That's mostly because I already owned all the brewing books I wanted in hard copy before I ever got the Kindle. But it's not because the format doesn't translate; I've ready plenty of other non-fiction books on the Kindle. The biggest reason is because if I want to pull out a book to check something during a brew day, I don't want to have to worry about getting the Kindle wet.

Brian

Without a doubt, Paper. I made the mistake of buying "Brewing Classic Styles" on my Kindle and returned it the next day. I bought a hard copy. The Kindle is good for books that read in a linear style but are horrible for any reference books in which you are likely to flip around. This is especially important for my travel books.

Ditto on the water hazard thing. I have a Kindle and love it, but given how water stained, dog eared, and dirty my brewing books are due to loving consultation during brew days I would be seriously concerned about the health and well being of my Kindle in the brewhaus.

If you're in the brew book buying mood, one of the most beneficial to me was Noonan's New Brewing Lager Beer. I use that for so much more than lagers, just wanted to give it a nod.

I was on the fence for a while about whether to buy brewing books in paperback or ebook version. After looking at a sample of How To Brew from the Kindle store, I really wasn't impressed with the graphical elements. They are in-line with the text, which is awkward. I wound up purchasing the paperback for $10 more, and am happy that I did.

paper for sure. I don't need wort and starsan all over my kindle.

Depends on the book. Recipes and tables arent fun to find on the kindle, but the pc software helps a lot. Plus I use beer smith, so im at the computer anyway.

I don't own a kindle...but I would prefer paper form. Like said above, when needing a quick reference the paper form is easy and to an extent more forgiving to accidents lol

On the "water hazard" front, a friend of mine said she put her Kindle in a zip-top bag to read in the bath, and didn't have a single problem. Of course, she wasn't dealing with boiling liquids, but still, just a thought.

I like real books. I read stuff on a screen all day, but I prefer a book in my hand.

However, the bjcp guidelines is very cool on kindle. I'll be you have that already tho.

I love my kindle ... its great for most books, but if you need to actually flip through a book or get to a section quickly ... I find that paper books are better. It takes entirely too long to find the information that you need, and you have to worry about damaging your $150 piece of ebook reading equipment with liquids. Go paper all the way

I LOVE my kindle but for any recipe books, I would buy the real thing. Shortly after getting my kindle, I bought a cookbook for it. Its the only book I regret getting that way.

Slurm said:

I like real books. I read stuff on a screen all day, but I prefer a book in my hand.

Click to expand...

yeah futurama!

I have Brewing Classic Styles and Farmhouse Ales in kindle format. I gotta be honest it's kind of a pain in the butt to read them that way. I would rather have them in paper form so they are easier to flip through and the charts and whatnot are a bit more readable.

Thanks for the input guys. Sounds like brewing and other reference books are still resigned to paper