Some guy that is banned from here, I can't find his site anymore, suggested this long ago. Yes you can carry hundreds of books on one, but anything technological can and will, eventually fail. And most often when you need it the most. A pet hacker once loaded tons of books on an old laptop for me, and it's at my cabin. But I've read each book at least twice so I can hopefully remember something when it breaks down, and not sit drooling as I stare at a blank screen. I have huge libraries at the ranch at the cabin. Books don't break down like electronics and are not subject to EMP. But if you go with an e reader I would suggest packing one of those roll up solar panels to power it. Hope this helps.

The fragility of e-readers does worry me, too, especially if your libary is primarily just stored on the e-reader.

Just the other day, my mobile phone got drenched inside the pocket of my rubber rain jacket, even with the pocket flap snapped closed. I never imagined water could get in there, but the wind was howling while I was waiting for the bus and I guess that was enough force to push rain under the flap and into the pocket. I've been trying to dry my phone out for a week but it looks like it's done for. There must be dozens of "totally unexpected" ways that your e-reader could be knocked out of service in a survival situation.

Also, I assume (I don't have one--yet) that these e-readers use some sort of lithium ion rechargeable battery? Regardless of how well you treat them, lithium ion cells do degrade. So, for a gadget that you might just keep in storage for years, waiting for a chance to use it, you may find that the battery will not hold a decent charge when you need it.

So, I think an e-reader is a great tool, but it's a rather vulnerable single point of failure that could take down your whole library at once. Certain critical items such as important maps, first aid and edible food reference books, etc. should have some redundancy, preferably in a non-electronic form.

I would caution anybody who buys DRM-encumbered applications, video, music or reading material to make sure that you know the terms and conditions of any "shrinkwrap" agreement. Also make sure you're either able to convert to other formats, or that you are comfortable being unable to do so. If you decide to buy music (for example) that can only be played on a proprietary media player, be sure that you're willing to do without those purchases if the media player is discontinued.

A friend uses a Kindle and another her iPhone. I'm a low-tech guy who agonizes over batteries for flashlights. I have borrowed an E-reader from the library but have hardly touched it. In fact, I need to learn from my friend how she charged her phone on the AT last week!

An LED headlamp is the extent of my survival tech. Not slamming anyone; its just that I'm a Luddite.

eReaders are great for reading entertainment books that you typically read only once and then move on to something else. But I wouldn't use a DRM'ed eBook for reference materials. Long term storage on electronic media is iffy in the first place, but when you add DRM to that, I think it becomes too risky a proposition to consider. It very well might not be there when you need it.

If you want something to keep, and refer back to in the future, possibly many times, a DRM'ed digital book is a very poor choice. But I had no qualms about buying a digital copy of The Hunger Games that was DRM'ed up the wazoo. I finished reading it. It was a fun read. But there are too many OTHER good books to read for me to worry about going back to read it again later. The digital copy I purchased has already served it's intended purpose. I would donate it to the local library if that were allowed. I can buy a hard copy of a book, read it, and then give it to the library so others can enjoy it. Not so with this new DRM nonsense. You can't donate or even lend (reasonably) a digital book, everybody has to buy their own copy. Greed has taken over in the publishing business.

Yup. That's my thinking too. I LOVE my tablet but I'm not going to count on it in an emergency. Same goes for electronic copies of documents. I carry a flash drive with copies of important documents and information. It's a convenient way to access that info, but both are dependant on power so limited and not something I want to depend on.

Well said Jac.

As some have assumed, the OP said nothing about an eReader being the sole source of information.

I would suggest that the best solution is to have both a paper survival manual AND an eReader. It is not feasible to carry multiple books in your BOB, but you can carry a whole library in an eReader. If the battery dies and you are unable to charge it, you still have your paper manual.

Welcome Treeseeker! Nice first post. You caught a lot of us with our "all or nothing" thinking caps on. Carrying both seems like the the best compromise to me.

When discussing electronic devices for survival, I think we're too quick to dismiss them because they COULD fail IF we were in a prolonged survival situation. Let's be honest..the chances of both happening simultaneously are pretty remote. Could it happen? Absolutely...but so could a lot of other things. Battery power is another concern but there are ways to mitigate that too IF the situation required it.

That said, many survival situations boil down to survival of the fittest and technology will almost always provide an edge, whether that be with competing for resources or competing with time. If two people had to get to a certain location at a certain time, and one had a GPS and the other had a compass (assuming they both new how to use them), my money is on the guy with the GPS getting there in less time and most efficiently. Likewise, if two people needed to find a particular passage in a medical book in an emergency, and one had an ereader and the other had a regular book, guess who would find that passage in less time and increase the chances of survival? He'd also have access to a much larger resource, unless maybe the other guy was lugging around the 40th edition Grey's Anatomy (>10 lbs.). I'd still want a compass and a (small) book(s), but technology would be what I'd count on first in most situations.

I guess you need to weigh the risk of technology failing against the obvious advantages it provides and decide what you're comfortable with. I just don't think dismissing it outright is always wise.