I’ve found this to be the case. I certainly prefer paper books when doing any studying. There are a lot of things lacking in E-Books today. Eventually, I suspect we’ll get there. We’re just not there, today. I think that we need some kind of contextual sign posts along the way. E-Books need something more than just chapters and sections.
As I have done quite a bit of business reading since graduation in December, I’ve noticed that many of these books follow a predictable pattern in their layout. They make a point. They explain the point. They relate a story or two to drive home the point. It occurred to me that if we could have each of those sections color coded and have the ability to rearrange them within a section/chapter we could accommodate many more learning styles. (Forgive me if I don’t use the correct terminology here, but I use the words I know.) Some people need to have the linear/analytic point of view first. Others would prefer to have the personal story portion first so that they can feel the emotion and want the solution before it’s provided. Some people don’t need the explanation; they just want the idea and the story. Others could do without the story entirely. Sometimes, one personal story driving home the point is enough and you could skip the second one offered by the author; other times, you need more than one.
If a book could be rearranged or color coded allowing the reader to get at that which he/she needs most in the order that it’s needed to accommodate the reader’s learning style, E-Books could be so much more effective.
Additionally, visual queues could be added behind the words so that we could “map” the book better in our mind. If we know that all of the points in a book related to a particular topic are watermarked with a circle, or a triangle or some other meaningful shape (related to the topic) and we could make those shapes searchable, we could improve the usability and effectiveness of E-Books for all users.