/edu/ - Education

>>1227
There's some semi-related discussion to this here >>602.

I personally prefer physical books, a lot nicer to own and hold and means not looking at a 'screen'. But can't always afford them and sometimes the large pdfs I want to read don't come in book form.

I forget nearly everything when I read digital books and know people with similar problems. Audiobooks are a little better than digital books, but overall I always go with physical books when I can

>>1227
Most of the books I own physical copies of are either out of print and/or aren't available digitally. I've found it's best to use digital for easy reference and physical for in-depth reading. I can't always do the latter because of academic pricing though which is unfortunate, so I often have to wait until someone breaks the drm on equally expensive digital copies. Also, it frustrates me that publishers like Penguin Random House don't commit to print replicas.

Physical. There are studies out there that show people are better able to retain information from ink on paper than they can from a digital screen.

The only reason I have digital books is if I can't afford it or if I need to ctrl+f something in the book.

>>1268
Let's see those studies.

>>1269
They both have their uses like I said but print is better for comprehension.
https://natlib.govt.nz/blog/posts/reading-on-screen-vs-reading-in-print-whats-the-difference-for-learning


meta-analysis:
https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S1747938X18300101

>>1271
B-But I have been reading on my ereader for the past decade… Does this mean that if I have been reading print books instead, by now I would be a GENIUS?

>>1272
I know you're being facetious but ereaders use electronic ink which is very different from an LCD screen.

>>1277
That's what I naively thought, but the authors of the meta-analysis disagree, as they grouped it with other hand-held devices.

Does anyone know if there is a good leftist online bookstore for physical copies?

>>1282
The first one is disorganized and it’s search is bad (searched “state and revolution” and got no lenin), and the second one is all anarchist.

>>1280
Direct from the big publishers:

https://www.versobooks.com/books
Books published by New Left Review. Tends to be "academic left" in both a good way and a bad way.

https://www.haymarketbooks.org/series_collections/1-historical-materialism
Haymarket was associated with the former ISO - I think it's affiliated with the DSA now? Lots of left-liberal and idpol stuff but they occasionally publish gold - especially the Historical Materialism series (linked).

https://www.plutobooks.com/books/
Pluto is kind of a balance between the last two from my experience.

https://monthlyreview.org/press-category/new/
Published by Monthly Review magazine. Books they publish focus especially on political economy and ecology / climate. Lots of good stuff, Cockshott's latest book for example was published by them.
[b]The Sect Press[/b]
Sectarian parties will typically only sell their literature through their party bookstore. Mostly tripe, but occasionally there's something worth reading.

https://bookmarksbookshop.co.uk/
Published by the British SWP. One of the better party publishers
https://mehring.com/
Published by the SEP / WSWS
https://www.marxistbooks.com
Published by the IMT. Their restored version of Trotsky's Stalin biography is worth reading

I'm sure I'm missing a few, especially in the sect press. Keep in mind for public domain classics like Lenin, etc. that there are many different editions to choose from (usually different introductions filtering it through your chosen sect), so shop around.

>>1227
Digital Books because they're free.

Physical, helps me considerate better. And the feel of them, that it's actually a page turner, it's nice.

Digital. I love the idea of being able to freely share texts around without anybody having to pay a penny. I think we need all leftist books in digital format so we can share them amongst the politically uninitiated more easily and for cheaper.

would like physical but they cost too much.

>>1308

This.

I love, and prefer paper, it's just not as efficient or cost effective, plus pdf downloading/trading is actual irl communism. maybe you don't retain as much info, but id need to see more studies, and to see how people, especially people raised with digital culture respond to it over the course of years, with controlled variables. I have a cheap tablet and I can get basically any book I want for free.

Also, we're literally killing living beings for no reason at this point. If that sounds like hippy nonsense, I suggest you take yo' ass into the forest. Maybe drop some L or shrooms, but you need to see that they are quite alive. Pretty barbaric, and pretty fucking sad, but it won't really make you angry until you've connected with trees, only to see them ripped apart, brutally cut down, and left to slowly die on the ground so some porkie can line his pocket.

>>1326
cutting down rotten or dying trees keeps a forest healthy.

>>1227
physical, especially old and very old books. I like going to flea markets and look for them. you can find cool books for really cheap, especially in rural places

Physical for sure. Probably the biggest reason is if I am reading an actual book away from my computer I am not constantly tempted to be doing something else on my computer, social media, games or any other brainless but dopamine rewarding activity.
Its also easier to get comfortable holding a book then a computer.
I also love the feel and smell of books, especially old ones. I love all of my really old books, when I get a really old copy of like a communist book, especially one full of notes, it makes me think of all the other comrades who have read that book…

>>1227
No preference. I have a pretty sizeable collection of paper books which are nice because I can bring them outside. I used to prefer physical books because not being able to annotate makes processing theory very difficult for me. However, I have recently switched to a system of summarizing each paragraph and then writing comments in my paper note card box which I have found to be significantly superior to writing in the margins in terms of comprehension, and it more or less eliminates the issues I had with digital pdfs. Viva Libgen!

>>1277
>>1278
answer him

I use digital books but only because I can pirate them. if I could pirate physicals, I would.

>>1830
you could shoplift

>>1833
I'd probably suck at it

Digital because of pirating absolutely

>>1227
Physical but cause Coronalol, digital so I can use Sci-hub

>>1227
Digital

Though if the apocalypse happens I might regret that

>>1227
physical always.

I can't read online. I print out PDFs sometimes though instead of buying.

Either digital copies or hardcover physical books.

Paperbacks are pure degeneracy and counter-revolutionairy ;)

I can't concentrate when reading on a computer screen, is it a bad idea or nah? Ideally I'm only going to buy cheap used stuff I find.

Another question, should I try to get the absolute best translation and publisher or is does it not matter what edition I get as long as I freaking read something?

Sure if you don't mind being put on a list when ordering online.

>does it not matter what edition I get
Isn't the only noticeable difference between editions the introduction and stuff?

>I can't concentrate when reading on a computer screen
Same here. I buy physical copies of larger books as well as books which I know I'll be referencing a lot. Smaller books and books which I'm only reading as a means to understand some other work I'll usually just snag a pdf. It can get a little expensive to keep buying books, though, so used stuff is definitely a good idea, but I think the cost is worth it if it's letting you read more than you would only on your computer.
If you haven't heard of them, AbeBooks.com is a pretty good international online used bookseller. Their selection is better than you'd think it'd be. I've found some pretty niche books on there. Radical Reprints is also really cool. They're a leftist publishing group that print a lot of really neat and hard-to-find leftist literature with microscopic profit margins (what profits they do make are donated to leftist causes/mutual aid networks/etc.) so that's another pretty affordable option.

>should I try to get the absolute best translation and publisher or is does it not matter what edition I get as long as I freaking read something?
If the really good edition is ridiculously expensive, just get the inferior version, the difference in quality is almost never worth shelling out an extra $50 for. That being said, there are occasionally important differences between translations, especially if the translation is from a more difficult language to translate, like German. Sometimes the better translation can be easier to read (e.g. Michael Inwood's new translation of The Phenomenology of Spirit, which I've heard is appreciably clearer than the standard Miller translation, but which is also $100 more expensive, so fuck that), or sometimes it can even alter the meaning of the text (iirc, some Lacanians dislike James Strachey's translations of Freud's work, arguing that he de-emphasized the importance of language in Freud's work). In my experience, edition doesn't really matter, unless there were big differences between editions, which is sometimes the case, but not usually. More superficially, some editions have nicer typeface, or better paper, but I've never seen a typeface so ugly nor paper so blindingly white that I couldn't get used to it in twenty pages.
This is all to say that translation does matter, but nine times out of ten isn't worth spending money over. It's better to read a worse translation than to go broke getting the best of the best from some price-gouging academic publisher. Better translations are nice, but not at all necessary.

>>4203
>Sure if you don't mind being put on a list when ordering online.

How would buying Marx put me on a List?

>>4205
put you on a list of cool people

>>4206
Damn straight

I'm guessing since you're here you're going to be getting leftist books. If you have a lefty used book store near you that would be worth supporting. Also you can support them online. After those two options I just look online in general for the book.

As far as translations and publishers it depends on the book and how much the newer edition is. Some translations don't really improve much on the older so just do your research or just compare and contrast readability for you.

Here's a heads up: if it looks too short, it probably is. I bought a used book the other day that turned out to be an abridged version. Only 60 pages when the original was over 200.

Same bro, I've got ADHD and having a real book in front of me helps a lot.

Consider going to your local used books store or ebay/abebooks/thriftbooks/bookdepository/wordery for buying online from around the world.

Just gonna ask here instead of making a separate thread…
Are hardcover books worth paying extra? Almost all used paperbacks I've bought are still holding up well after several decades.

>>4239
Hardcover sucks. Don't pay the extra money

>>4239
I guess if the book is fuckhuge, like over 500 pages long.

>>4240
im autistic about aesthetics because sometimes the best cover happens to be a hardcover but yeah im not gonna shell out considerably more just for that

the only hardcover ive ever bought so far is a 700-page critique of pure reason i found for fucking $4 in a garage sale

>>4239
Hardcover is better because the book is far less likely to get torn or the cover itself wear out. Paperback books are known to be cheap because they're shoddy 90% of the time.

>>4239
>>4241
Adding to this I'd also get a hardcover if it's a reference work that you're going to be opening often.

>>4203
Ok, but Realtalk.
I was planning on ordering some Cockshott to read it in physical, but this whole "will be put on a List" is worriesome

>>4245
tbh cockshott is very low risk. It's basically all computer science, maths, planned economy shit, as opposed to 'let's kill and maim every land owner' and so on

me too anon. used bookstores/op shops are great, and if your area has based unions they occasionally have some prole literature.