[deregulateMed]

I read/listen to lots of nonfiction books(30 so far this year) and the only benefit of buying books instead of using a Library is being able to write notes in them.

With digital copies I'll screenshot a page.

Not sure what is better, both seem to have their problems. Underlining requires flipping through every page. Screenshotting gives you more and less information than you need.

But library digital books are free and don't require transportation to obtain.

As a side note, read science, history and philosophy books. It's mind boggling how much better these books are than social media. If a book sucks, move onto the next one(or tell yourself you will read it later).

[yodsanklai]

To me, the main benefit of buying books is that I can keep them for reference, I often use technical books for years. Old books also have a sentimental value for me and I'm having a hard time getting rid of them.

BTW, I would never write anything in a book. I wonder if I'm the only one.

[hcs]

I rarely write in a book besides my name in pencil in the front. But when I see an error that I can't ignore, I'll make a copyediting mark or note in the margin so I can move on. Very occasionally I'll get a book that I need to argue with, and then the margins get filled, sorry to anyone who eventually finds these.

I think my reluctance is mostly about keeping a book in the state I got it, since I do frequently mark up interesting sections of PDFs in my e-reader.

[cafard]

It varies. I grew up not writing in books, because until high school most of the books I handled were either school books, mine to use for the school year, or library books. That was a while ago. These days, I have no scruples, but I tend to write only in work that requires some concentration, mostly philosophy. I read a fair bit of history and fiction, but don't tend to write in them.

[pessimizer]

> BTW, I would never write anything in a book. I wonder if I'm the only one.

You're not. I don't consider myself the final owner of the things I possess.