> it's impossible to have multiple documents open side by side.
if that was the main problem, the problem could solved with some investment be equipping oneself with multiple e-readers.
The speed of flipping pages is annoying but improving year after year and IMO it's borderline acceptable nowadays if all you need is to go on the next page.
But I totally agree on the utter unbrowsability of e-books; and for technical content that matters a lot
> it's borderline acceptable nowadays if all you need is to go on the next page.
Technical documents are exactly the sort of thing with which you need to repeatedly flip back and forth to random pages of the document, checking figures, tables, definitions etc. That experience is intrinsically difficult to manage on an e-reader.
Digital bookmarks, as well as search features are better in in electronic documents though. And the interesting emerging category of "chatting with documents" offers some interesting capabilities. The UX isn't there yet in the form-factor of an e-reader - but it already there for desktop based access of technical documents for may use cases.
all those features you listed are immensely useful and enrich the way we access technical documentation, to the point of often outweigh the losses. That said, I do dream of a future when one could have a searchable book you can talk to but also use your hands in a natural way to flip trough the pages, hold your place with fingers etc. Our current touch screen gestures only scratch at the surface of what our hands can do, by focusing only on what you can do with the tips of the fingers.
if that was the main problem, the problem could solved with some investment be equipping oneself with multiple e-readers.
The speed of flipping pages is annoying but improving year after year and IMO it's borderline acceptable nowadays if all you need is to go on the next page.
But I totally agree on the utter unbrowsability of e-books; and for technical content that matters a lot