If you read with a Nook or audio tape are you really “reading”?

I was browsing the library site with my Nook to see what I wanted to download. I saw “Have Space Suit will Travel” by Robert A. Heinlein offered as a book to download. That is a book to listen to through my computer.

I loved this book! It was the first of Heinlein’s books I ever read, the first science fiction that I liked and the first book that did not talk down to me or dumb down content. I was in fourth grade when I first read this book . I went on to read and reread the rest of his junior fiction and when I found his more adult sci-fi in the public library I devoured them.

My friends were not into science fiction unless it was the Trilogy of the Ring or Dune which underwhelmed me. I was more the Star-treker than the fantasy fiction devotee. Ray Bradbury was another favorite. This was the time of moon flights and I was into realistic science fiction if such a thing can be said

Love my Nook. Getting my “reading” material that way is convenient though. Especially , since I do not have frequent access to a car. I like the audio books less so, probably because I don’t like being tied down to one place if I use my computer or I tend to get distracted if I am driving or walking with an audio device. 

I still like a book. There is something about having the words as a solid thing makes them seem more alive than millions of data specs in cyberspace somewhere. I’m on the lookout for a solid copy of “Have Space Suit Will Travel”. It will join “Stories By Ray Bradbury”,” To Kill A Mockingbird” by Harper Lee, “Aztec” By Gary Jennings and “The Hercules Poirot ‘s Casebook” by Agatha Christie on my permanent brick and mortar real bookshelf. These are the only books I want to have on hand to re-read.

Do you read science fiction? What kind? Am I the only one who likes Heinlein? What are your must have a real copy of books?