PDF e-book reader software

[PG1995]

Hi

I have checked all forums but couldn't find any forum on books etc. If in your opinion it doesn't fit here, then I humbly request you to move it to an appropriate forum. Thank you.

My school has ample of e-book but I don't use them. Almost all my friends use those e-books and don't buy paperbacks. But I don't know why I don't feel comfortable reading an e-book. When using e-book it seems that as if my mind is not really absorbing whatever I'm reading. Does this happen to you as well?

I have decided that I will do my best to get myself comfortable with using e-books because this way I can save money, can get many reference e-books, and can carry those e-books in my laptop anywhere and further I would free a lot of space on my bookshelf. Most e-book, especially with color pictures, are in PDF as far as my experience goes. Today I downloaded Adobe Digital Edition and Kindle for PC. The big problem with Adobe Digital is that it doesn't have any bookmarking, annotating, highlighting features. On the other side Kindle for PC doesn't read PDF e-book. Could you please recommend me any good e-book reader software which can handle PDF e-books effectively and doesn't have many shortcomings? Any other suggestions?

I thank you for your time and help.

Regards
PG

 

[Sceadwian]

If your apprehension about using such devices is so severe that it actually causes enough of a distraction from the material that you have trouble absorbing it you might want to see a psychologist if you think it's important, Technophobia is real, and even more so between books vs an e-reader because of the drastic change in feel. The same end result is occurring though, information is being presented, the method is all that changes. You need to learn simple put it out of your mind and learn to use what you have available.

In the case of a student as e-books they're a no brainer, in one small device you can hold an entire libraries worth of information, many times searchable, it's win win with no cons.

As far as devices go the Nook is hard to beat. If you want to look up the device the current iteration is the Nook Simple Touch
Sony has a few that seem pretty decent as well however the Nook seems to be better supported. The Nook also runs the Android operating system which as a side benefit can allow some Android apps to be run on it.

 

[squishy36]

I've used Foxit PDF client for years and find it better than anything from Adobe (and definitely less bloated). I want it to behave fast, let me bookmark things (in addition to any existing bookmarks), and allow me to highlight text and add annotations as needed; Foxit lets me do these things.

 

[PG1995]

I have just download MartView which reads PDF e-books and is very good. The very big drawbacks are it ONLY reads which means you cannot annotate, bookmark, or highlight anything. Can you recommend any other reader of MartView kind but doesn't have MartView's drawbacks.

 

[unclejed613]

i use Okular which allows adding "post-it" notes, underlining, highlighting etc... it is included with many versions of linux, and has windows and mac versions available.

https://okular.kde.org/

or look at https://pdfreaders.org/ for a list of free pdf readers with many different options

 

[Nigel Goodwin]

Buy a proper Kindle, they are easier to read than paper books - you won't go back to paper after using a Kindle.

 

[unclejed613]

i use a lot of service manuals in pdf format. they are convenient because i don't need several filing cabinets to store them, but there are still times when i prefer to have a schematic on paper rather than paging back and forth through computer screens.

 

[Sceadwian]

Current generation e-readers are as good as paperbacks, and useable for schematics and what not, future versions will get dramatically better in the next 5 years. They're already addressing the screen refresh rate issues, and color displays are starting to creep into the market place, for what they're capable of doing I can see them taking the place of current LCD displays on many device where high quality video isn't required. Contrast seems a bit low to me on most of them, hopefully that's something they'll be able to work out as well.

 

[PG1995]

Thank you, everyone.

I think if one's resources allow why not simply buy a small lightweight tablet PC instead? At least you would be able to do all the computing there.

 

[Sceadwian]

Battery life...
E-book readers for standard page turning can go without charging for days, used for reference material that is seldom changed it can be used for weeks. Even extended duration batteries on laptops can barely get through a typical 8 hour work day. Emerging tablet oriented systems are a good choice, but the cost is significant over a simple e-reader. Your exact usage is critical to determining what to get, the honest truth is both are important, one for heavier active computing the other for simple display. Gotta budget around your needs.