an ordinary chessplayer wrote on 04/15/23 at 21:15:03:


This really is the rub... research shows that things stick better in memory from physical books... but we also know its easier to read a digital book (the airport, the cab etc) it is just on your ever present phone. There are obviously other plus and minuses  but I guess my question is why does it have to be physical OR digital? Isn't there a place for both? I've always thought if I bought the physical book that the digital should come with for free or cheap since the extra cost is literally $0.

an ordinary chessplayer wrote on 04/15/23 at 21:15:03:


All fields lol not just chess. 


cathexis wrote on 04/16/23 at 12:17:40:


I'm stealing this.

Dink Heckler wrote on 04/16/23 at 15:40:24:


Omg this read is the best thread ever.

Buying books and reading books are almost totally distinct hobbies 

Print and electronic books each have their pros and cons, both for the readers and for the publishers. I guess the ChessBase ebooks are more exciting for ChessBase than for me.

Quote:

Strictly speaking, this is not an accurate statement. It would be better to say that chess books will not be read by 95%. The 5% are mostly the ones who can read the book without setting up a board, and the 95% are the ones who cannot do it that way. But the 95% certainly can read the book, it's just they usually don't. This is a known issue. It's far easier to buy books than it is to read them, and a similar statement could be made in any domain where results depend on discipline. However, it's worth considering whether making something "easier" leads to better results in the long run. Sometimes things should be hard! A related point is if an ebook gets better results than a print book simply because one is read whereas the other is not, it's hardly a fair comparison.

What I find bizarre is the assumption that literally nobody uses a board and pieces to play through lines in a chess book, leading to the conclusion that it's impossible for anyone who can't visualise like Anand to read a chess book.   

Is the chess world really full of people who buy hundreds of chess books even though they can't read any of them because it never occurs to them to play through the games on a board?  The only books I ever read without a board were puzzle books.