I am looking for an inspiration regarding reading eBooks. Which format do you use, which reader etc.? Is it even a thing with ebooks for developers?
I tried reading ebooks (from pragprog mainly) on a Kindle in the past and it was a pain. Slow, small, source code formatting suffered. iPad was quite OK, but it’s heavy, can be very expensive and doesn’t have an eInk display.
Did the situation with the ebook readers improve? Is there some that is good enough for reading technical texts with source code snippets?
I know paper books have their charm etc., but sometimes that’s not an option. I am curious how you are doing it.
My Kobo Clara is perfect for that, but I vastly prefer ePubs (even if I lose some of the publisher’s intent about layout) to PDFs. PDFs feel a bit clunky on that small of a screen with their layout preserved.
A few years ago I had tried an acquintance’s ebook reader and did not get the impression I would use one.
For technical books with code I like to read on my laptop (PDF or ePub) using the Apple Books app (remembers my position where I left off), that way I can code along as I read. For technical books that do not involve as much coding and more about ideas/concepts, I read on my Kobo.
How big is your e-Reader screen? 6 inch? Just black and white, or colour?
I’m also on the lookout for an e-Reader. It’s been ages since I owned a kindle. I much prefer paper books. But sometimes it’s nice to have the digital version.
I use a 6" black and white. I feared the colour version would add too much interaction ability and be distracting. But maybe it’s nice too.
I also love (and prefer) paper books, but recently started doing bicycle hikes over a few days, so the weight / length(pages) ratio of an ebook reader in my bag is great !
I used to love my Kindle, then later got an Oasis but felt it wasn’t great for technical books, so got what I now think is the best device - a large iPad Pro. The screen and 120hz is brilliant and it’s sooooo easy to highlight things (and in multiple colours!) …and not only that, your notes get synced across all devices!
Why not order one and if you don’t like it send it back? I’m pretty sure you’ll love it!
(Only thing I’d suggest is to turn off notifications or go into airplane mode when reading.)
I have Kindle Scribe and I don’t care about file format much. Two-column PDF files look fine, so regular source code snippets should be displayed fine as well
I would always optimise for comfort and where you don’t need to hold the device too close to you (same with monitors - generally the further away the better).
TL;DR: Don’t bother. Get some iPad Air second-hand and go wild. Seriously. Just don’t bother with internet-connected e-readers, they are captive devices that could delete your stuff at any time – at least Amazon’s are like that, but I don’t think the other OEMs are better.
You can get an older one or a cheaper one that you can just not give any internet connectivity to and feed it with .epub files from a microSD card but we found it too clunky – it works but takes a special effort that we didn’t feel was justified to do on a regular basis. A second-hand full-blown iPad Air gets the job more than fine and she can also put some video on it for a slight distraction / entertainment value when she’s doing something that she would rather not but has no choice at the moment (work, chores etc).
I bought one of these so that it can be placed at a comfortable distance and keeps your hands free:
(Though if you use it on your bed you won’t be able to use it like the pic above (unless you’re a small person!) you would need to attach it to the side of the bed.)
Also if you have a compatible TV you can mirror your screen on to it via wifi. Honestly @stefanluptak I think a large iPad (Pro if you can get it - for the screen) is a no brainer!
Thank you all for your responses. We have an iPad. It’s primarily used by my son. It’s a good fallback option for reading, but I would like something more single-purpose with longer battery life etc. I think I will give some of those Kobo readers a try. Thanks again.
For me, it depends on the kind of book. Is it something to be worked through, or just something to be read?
If it’s an in-depth programming book, it’s something to be worked through. I usually just want it on a PDF so I can alt-tab between my terminal (where I’m working on the project) and the book. For example, I’m currently reading Designing Elixir Systems with OTP and each part has about 50/50 code to type in and experiment with / concepts to share. I honestly just use stock PDF reader for the OS
If it’s something to be read, I’ll either get it paper or ebook, but preferably paper. Examples here would be Grokking Simplicity or The Pragmatic Programmer - both books where there are code snippets for sure, but not ones you’re expected to type in and run. For these ebooks, I’ll get them in whatever format available and convert to AZW3 and transfer onto my old kindle paperwhite.
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