MUST READ on How to Get English Books in Asia

[rbirchtree]

I wanted to throw this out there from experience. If you live in Asia, getting an English book is a pain in the butt. Therefore, get a Nook.

You'll save a lot of time, money and space looking for books in Asia. Trust me on this. I rather have spent $100 on a Nook than the $100 I spent on books. As an added benefit you can get many free books on the Nook.

http://9nl.com/waygook You can buy one here. 

Most of us are only in Asia for a year. Do you really want to get a library over there?

[Cereal]

Or a Kindle.

Never heard of a nook as anything other than a corner in a kitchen with a bunch of cans of Campbell's soup on shelves, however, MY KINDLE ROCKS! Books are free too, if you know where to look  ;)

[Andy84]

Haha I wouldn't know anything about that! 

I have a kindle touch, yep, they rock, especially the touch ones which don't have that full page refresh every single page, which would drive me scatty. So books aren't something I'll miss out on or have to pay tons to import.Gotta get my Game of Thrones fix!

[VizionMC]

Why is this a MUST READ!!   c'mon buddy   :)

[flasyb]

I wanted to throw this out there from experience. If you live in Asia, getting an English book is a pain in the butt. Therefore, get a Nook.

Nah.

www.thebookdepository.co.uk

Regular or slightly cheaper than normal prices (check out the classics). Free international shipping. I've never had a problem getting a book that I wanted here.

I see your point about not wanting/being able to take all those books home with me though. I'll just re-sell or give them away. Can you re-sell a nook book?

[peasgoodnonsuch]

Nooooo!!!!!!!! No e-books! It's the end of the world! The next step is book bonfires!

  But in all seriousness, I'm with the great, late Ray Bradbury on this. I really don't like the existence of e-books and can't imagine them replacing proper paper made books that smell nice, feel weighty in the hand and have real pages you can actually turn.

I understand the convenience of e-books and I was kind of horrified at how much like a real page the kindle looks BUT I'm going to be ornery and old-fashioned and resist the trend...

So, for anyone looking for real books, it's not that hard to find them. There are plenty of websites and stores (whatthebook, kyobo) and even better, there's your local library. I live out in the suburbs/boonies and we only just got a library in the past year or so. It's fantastic and their English book section is considerably impressive considering my neighborhood. It was no problem getting a library card and I don't have to deal with a build up of books that I can't take with me. The best thing is, my library card is good for the entire city library system, so if my local branch doesn't have a book I want, I can likely find it and have it sent to me.

Go libraries! They rock!

[skippy]

Really!  I agree - Must Read! 

Couple of flaws in your tout for Nook.  I am pretty certain you can not order the Nook from Korea.  The States no problem.  Plus add in the restrictions for some people of not having  credit credit card.  Kindle can be shipped here.   Nook I think maybe in the future. 

Hey I love my Kindle.  But it still has it's downsides.
Some ebooks are not sold internationally.  Including and figuring out exchange rates, can find a cheap book getting expensive quickly.  Plus some people just prefer the good old fashion book in hand.

But there are more then one way to skin a cat.

1.  What the Book!  Good Used and New bookstore in Seoul.  Fair prices and big selection.  Plus to add the online store part can and does ship to all over Korea.  Nice place to order via bank transfer if no credit card.  Plus Amazon orders can be done through them.
www.whatthebook.com

2.  Other books stores in Korea used and new.  Kyobo used to be the place years ago. YoungPong and Bundi's both have a selection of books. Discounts can be done with getting a member card, plus many books can be ordered too.  Even the other used book store in Itaewon is nice.

3.  the book depository web site mentioned above. - www.thebookdepository.co.uk
Plus various other online used bookstores with cheap international shipping (versus Amazon).  Two of my favorites.
http://www.betterworldbooks.com/
http://www.thriftbooks.com/

4.  Book swaps. Great way to make friends and talk shop with people.  I think Seoul has one that is regularly.  Bigger cities likely have something going on too. 
http://book-swap.meetup.com/cities/kr/seoul/

5.  Make friends and trade or borrow with them.  A book is sometimes better when shared.

6.  Libraries - well slim pickings sometimes, but chance to explore and find some unique book finds.

[rbirchtree]

I am giving advice on how to declutter your room, save mone and timey. I spent so much money on books in Korea till I bought a Kindle from my friend. Most of us will only be doing this for two years max. Why have a library?

Still...I would encourage people to buy Nooks to keep the market competitive...I don't want Apple and Amazon to be the only companies selling readers.

[skippy]

Yep I did that to, wanted to go minimal.  Have over 3000 books in my Calibre library.  Really looked and looked for ebook versions of books I had.

For me I am a loyal Kindle customer.  They replaced my reader when it got broken and helped with all free shipping back and fourth.

The Nook I never tried.  Some people like it.   Hopefully the Nook does make that International inroads.  A little competition will help.

[Rusty Shackleford]

This really isn't a "MUST READ" or some great revelation. It's really one good option amongst many good options.

I would recommend an ebook (any one, they're all good and do what they say on the tin) for light fiction and biographies and popular non-fiction in general. But, they aren't good for classic literature, non-fiction books that have a lot of diagrams and require marking up and books where you may want to flick back to certain sections.

What about other options like reading on your computer, phone, PSP or audio books. They are other options that have their time and place but don't fill the gap completely (as is true with the Nook). Why not promote them in large letters? I was reading PDFs on my original iPod and PSP back in 2007 so, you are preaching to the choir when it comes to reading.

Oh and how about that old fashioned building known as the library? They have those in Korea, as well.

[bawaugh]

I came with a Kindle, and am quite happy with it except that Amazon does not take NZD, Won, or Euro (my savings are in these currencies). Also lacks a lot of NZ books.

Visited bookshop in Busan with a decent English section, found one good book, could not find the price and did not know how to ask for it, took a photo and purchased it on Amazon for my Kindle. At the end of the day I am able to take this book home with me, otherwise it would get left in korea.

When I left Ireland I had to leave a lot of good books behind. I am quite happy with my Kindle and and enjoy the space I save.

Visited a Library once, could not find the English section.

Visited a bookstore in Geoje and they had a tiny English section one of the books was on the USA's Health savings accounts. I do not know why a book shop in Geoje would have such a book on sale as it is so not reliant to anyone living out side of the USA. (And worse it was written for employers not employees). I purchased it though as I have a strange interest in these matters despite never living in the USA.

[rbirchtree]

ROFL ROFL ROFL ROFL ROFL ROFL ROFL ROFL ;) ;) :D

WOW! Now that is boredom to read about the US healthcare system. Or maybe...truly curiosity did kill the cat.

[bawaugh]

ROFL ROFL ROFL ROFL ROFL ROFL ROFL ROFL ;) ;) :D

WOW! Now that is boredom to read about the US healthcare system. Or maybe...truly curiosity did kill the cat.

I have an interest in politics and have followed the US healthcare debate despite never have even being to the American continent. Thus I purchased the book.

Still I will leave it behind in Korea when I go, because of space and weight limitations. But I will take my Kindle.  :)

[Andy84]

PDF support on the Kindle Touch is crappy though, my only gripe with an otherwise excellent machine.

[Rusty Shackleford]

This really isn't a "MUST READ" or some great revelation. It's really one good option amongst many good options.

I would recommend an ebook (any one, they're all good and do what they say on the tin) for light fiction and biographies and popular non-fiction in general. But, they aren't good for classic literature, non-fiction books that have a lot of diagrams and require marking up and books where you may want to flick back to certain sections.

What about other options like reading on your computer, phone, PSP or audio books. They are other options that have their time and place but don't fill the gap completely (as is true with the Nook). Why not promote them in large letters? I was reading PDFs on my original iPod and PSP back in 2007 so, you are preaching to the choir when it comes to reading.

Oh and how about that old fashioned building known as the library? They have those in Korea, as well.

My Kindle has black and white illustrations, which was the norm in classics with images, anyway. I can also hightlight or bookmark things, when I need to (I did for one of my texts for my TESOL course.)

Sure, no problems. Try graphs and tables though. I read a lot of econ and my Kindle is almost consistently awful at rendering figures. Half the time the axes are unreadable and not positioned properly ie half of a the figure is on one page the other on the next, positioned vertically when it could have fir in horizontally quite nicely or vice versa.

I have to admit, I've never tried using the highlight function. It could be awesome.

I'm not trying to have a dig at any one method of reading or other. They all have their time and place, strengths and weaknesses.

[livzy]

I have over 6000 ebooks which I will never have the time to read, but I've read 1000% more books in the last year (on my Android) than the previous 5 years combined.

[alljokingaside]

I wanted to resist the trend, then thought, this isn't horrible. e-books won't replace physical books, not in the near future at least, but can be a nice little addition for selecting books that you wouldn't want to carry (there are a few books that I've gotten while in Korea that I'd rather not part with, mainly because I've notes and comments in them) back. I've got a Samsung Galaxy Player with a 5" screen and it's very nice. Still, I prefer the hard cover. No need to worry about battery life, etc.

Also, you can't get a Kindle or a Nook or anything with a Li-ion battery shipped from the States via USPS, at least not since a few weeks ago. It'll have to be FedEx, UPS, or DHL (or insert any alternate shipping co.) and will cost you an extra $50(ish)

[Rusty Shackleford]

One thing that the Kindle is awesome for is longish articles and essays. There are even websites that cater specifically to this. You set it up through your Kindle email and they send you a dozen or so essays a week from sites like The New Yorker, The Atlantic, etc. The perfect length for reading on the bus and what not.

[Jeff619]

I never thought I'd ever be able to read on a Kindle.  I was like a lot of the other posters who talked about the feel, smell and being able to turn the pages.  I just never thought an e-book could ever be the same as the real thing.  Two years later I'm hooked.  Maybe if I had a big house with a nice office or library I'd go back to old school books but really the e-books are just as good, aside from textbooks or something with a lot of graphics.

Anyway, the posters who are against the e-books reminded me of this:


I'm not knocking you at all, I totally understand where you're coming from.

[peasgoodnonsuch]

Just saw this: http://www.ted.com/talks/lang/ko/chip_kidd_designing_books_is_no_laughing_matter_ok_it_is.html and thought I'd share!

I understand why e-books are convenient and I think I might even enjoy a kindle if I had one. But...I just won't go there. I'm happy people are reading more with e-books, but I hope enough of us will cling to the real thing. Libraries are nearly sacred places. They are havens of peace, organization and knowledge. They smell like books. If there comes a day when libraries are mere virtual centers of binary code, smelling of plastic and electricity, part of me will die inside.

ps. I appreciate the Seinfeld reference!