I bought and read thousands of paperbacks and hardbacks in the first 40-ish years of my life, and I've held on to the best of them. It's now a personal science fiction collection that is simply there for old times' sake. It makes me happy to see them, and I occasionally pick one out and re-read it. But 99% of my reading the last 20 years has been via e-books, namely Kindle. I used to travel with a stack of books - probably one third of my total luggage. Now, traveling with a single iPad and the Kindle reader gives me access to...almost everything. I wouldn't go back to physical books, but I do love my collection. One day soon I'll gift them all to the local library.