How many bookcases are there in your home?

Every room apart from the bathroom. There are also books on a shelf in the upstairs corridor.

Probably not as many books as real book enthusiasts though, and I think you may have a lot more (I have maybe an average of 30 books per room, with the kitchen having the least (half a dozen cookbooks of course). I don't want too many paper books, I was thinking of donating some to the local hospital bookshop since I've got more than I personally want.

I've definitely got more engineering books (and more useful ones) than some public libraries have, but that's not hard to do these days.

I do use a Kindle Paperwhite occasionally, but prefer the PC or iPad or mobile phone. The Kindle page refresh still annoys me.

There are also accidentally these kinds of silly situations occasionally:

I love books, but physical books have the weakness of not being searchable.  In my old age, the ability to retrieve information has made even eBooks secondary to searches on the internet.

Unfortunately, I rarely read entire books anymore and seldom any fiction. 

Being older, the mobile phone is not my go to information platform - much too hard to see enough information and access it.  I still prefer a desktop computer with multiple large monitors to a laptop.

Having lived through an earthquake I learned that there is a liability to having large bookshelves in a home.  I helped friends that got trapped in their bedrooms because books and bookcases fell in front of doors and windows.  Some were even injured from bookcases too close to their beds. 

There are only 2 or 3 books I regularly use as references.  One is a book on Python that I bought some time ago to learn the language.  Now that I'm familiar with the basics I seldom use it and do searches online to answer questions.  The other two are books on electronics with "The Art of Electronics" being the most used.

I rarely read a book twice and I'm down to one bookcase now having donated most of my books.  Currently I'm brushing up on my Spanish but am using an iPad instead of books.  I'm essentially paperless, and pay bills online or have automatic deduction from an account.  I don't use cash and only write checks once or twice a year.  The one exception with paper is that I still use it to sketch and make quick notes as I work.

I watch video but prefer written text for technical matters.  I pretty much only listen to radio when in my car.  I more often listen to internet music.  I use my smart phone less than most I suspect, but still use it a lot.  I often think of things while out for my walk and will do a search on my phone or make a note on it.  Funny, I don't use the phone to make many phone calls - I more often send emails or text messages with it.  I don't watch TV at all.  I don't have a landline and I don't read newspapers anymore.  All my news comes from the internet.

Vast majority of books are in my study on fixed shelves - sounds posh, but it’s really just a work room.  I like books and prefer reading the paper versions than electronic versions.  Text books I prefer electronic for searching.  Phone I use for testing and calling and occasionally email but little else - my eyes don’t really work with the small screen - so my iPad, a large Pro version, is used more for content consumption, including news.  My preference is my iMac with two large screens though.  Radio is on constantly but that’s really down to my wife as I tend to prefer peace and quiet but she can’t cope with that.  Often the radio will be on in the kitchen whilst she’s up in her sewing room (aka smallest bedroom) listening to music.

dougw said:

How often do you get a book from a bookcase in your home?

Only when I need to look up something, usually it's faster than Google. Not often though, maybe once every few months?

dougw said:

Have you gone paperless?

I'm reading some books from my kindle to be honest, mainly because it has a backlight.

dougw said:

Have you switched entirely to video?

I do watch more videos than I do read books, but then I read more forums and blog posts than I watch videos.

dougw said:

How many minutes a day do you listen to a radio?

Unless I'm in the car alone, I don't listen to the radio.

dougw said:

How often do you touch your smart phone in a day?

It's always in my pocket, but usually I pick it up on work breaks, or when I need to use two factor auth.

dougw said:

Do you watch more video on your smart phone than your TV?

Yeah, I don't have a television. In the UK you need a TV License to watch live broadcast television, and I don't have one.

I watch more video on my desktop computer than I do on my smart phone, and watch more on my smart phone than I do on my TV.

dougw said:

Do you have a landline?

No. Cheaper to have broadband only.

dougw said:

Do you still read newspapers?

Last time I read a newspaper was probably 2005-2010 when there was a free one available on the bus when I took it to the city centre.

dougw said:

Does all your content now come from the Internet? 

No, it also comes from books, or other people. Frankly I miss having an easily accessible local library. The nearest one is in the city, and I now live in a "commuter town" which has a 'corner shop' and that's it. It's homes everywhere, and some cows. 

I still read loads of paper books here. I need more decent bookcases though as they are rapidly piling up on the floor and becoming 'structural'. If the energy situation gets much worse here I might try building an igloo out of them and use them as insulation to hibernate through the winter.

The lack of being able to electronically bookmark stuff in a single index is perhaps my biggest issue, but at least they don't need recharging or a network connection. Very handy during a 4-day power outage.

I do have access to on-line books but the trouble I find is that they sometimes replace them with newer revisions and you then lose access to content which was only in the previous edition. Also a lot of books aren't available through the subscription services. I've been working with some old technology recently and that has resulted in searching for second hand books from the 80's and 90's as they aren't available in digital format.

Perhaps ironically the Internet has perhaps made me buy more paper books as it is easier to discover, find and get hold of technical books than previously.

"...The one exception with paper is that I still use it to sketch and make quick notes as I work..."

That's an issue I have as well, I've not found a solution that replaces the paper notepad for sketching and quick notes. There are some close contenders but a lot tie you to a smart phone or to a subscription based service.

"Frankly I miss having an easily accessible local library."

I live in a town, circa 150k population, with zero bookshops (the last one closed quite a few years ago), there's a WHSmith which doesn't count. Really depressing.

" rapidly piling up on the floor and becoming 'structural'"

I think there's a bookshelf designed to look like a wobbly jenga-style tower of books : ) 

Back when going into an office was popular, I offloaded a load of books into a bookcase there, as secondary storage :) 

That reminds me how depressing I find large airports that do not have a single book for sale. It is an alarming trend. I would even be okay with a WHSmith.