"What's the point of a bookshelf full of books other than as an antiquated trophy case of written ideas trapped in awkward, temporary physical relics?" You've probably heard of leaving a bowl of fruit on display, so you eat more fruit. I find it works a similar way. A shelf full of books allows passive reading, where ebooks are more active. I enjoy my kindle, but I have yet to casually start reading it in passing as I would a book. And if I'm in someone elses house and they're busy, I'll happily grab a book of their shelf and start reading it while I wait. It's a lot less invasive than firing up their tablet or browsing their kindle. Yeah I'm one of those people who wants a house with walls lined with books. As for my Kindle, it's a fantastic device, especially for reading on the move, and it's the closest reading experience to paper books I've seen. But good jesus the Amazon store is a pain to buy things on. As an Irish reader, I'm subject to crippling market segementation, where you simply can't buy most kindle books. Options are 1: lie about your address, risk losing access to your library. Or 2: torrent your books instead So far I've gone with 1. Not happy at all.