My 12 year old daughter went to Bristol for the weekend, and returned laden with books.

She had books with her to read on the train going to Bristol as well as the books she had bought there for the journey back, and the books she had bought just because she wanted them.

They weighed so much that her shoulder was sore from carrying them to and from the railway station.

I’m a techno-dad, so I pointed out to her that she could have had lots of books to read, and a lot else besides, if she’d taken her laptop computer with her instead.

Books by well-known children’s authors like Philip Pullman are now published as ‘ebooks’, and many children’s classics like Alice in Wonderland are freely available.

It would have taken no time at all to download them onto her computer, and then she could have read whatever she wanted.

Despite my enthusiasm, she wasn’t that interested, even though it would have saved her aching arms.

And she’s not alone.

Books forever

So few people seem to want to buy ebooks that this week bookseller Barnes & Noble decided to stop offering them. They weren’t selling enough to make it worth their effort.

In fact, although I tried to persuade Lili that it would have been cool to sit reading The Amber Spyglass on her computer, I don’t practice what I preach.

I’d much rather read a paperback than a laptop screen when I’m travelling.

Part of the problem is that it’s inconvenient to have to hold your computer. Even the lightest laptop is a quite heavy after a while.

If you use a desktop computer it’s even worse, as you’re stuck at a desk or a table.

That may be okay for web pages or stuff that you’re doing for your Open University course.

But when it comes to fiction or even something a bit more heavyweight, like Bill Bryson’s ‘A Short History of Nearly Everything’ then it’s much nicer to sit in a comfy chair and relax.

Even the small handheld computers, or PDAs, aren’t as good as a book.

This is because their screens are a lot smaller than pages and their displays are simply not as clear or easy to read as a printed page.

You can buy special ‘ebook’ computers that have large screens, good displays and are about the size of a large paperback.

But they cost a lot of money and aren’t much use for anything else.

Ebooks may be useful some of the time, but I think that old-fashioned printed books are going to be around for a long time.

After all, they work, they don’t break down – and they don’t need batteries or a working internet connection!

What do you think of ebooks?
Click here to have your say!

More and more of us are using the internet to manage our money, with online bank accounts, credit cards and savings accounts.

Checking how much money you’ve got at lunchtime or late on Sunday evening is certainly a lot more convenient than having to go the bank.

And it’s great to be able to pay bills in your underwear.

However online banking is also a great target for fraudsters and criminals, as once they manage to break into your bank account they can steal your money pretty easily too.

This week many of Barclays 3.5 million customers got an e-mail which asked them to visit the bank’s website and confirm their security details.

If you followed the link in the e-mail then you found a very convincing looking web page.

Unfortunately it wasn’t really on the Barclays website.

It had been put there by a bunch of thieves who were trying to trick people into giving away their user names, passwords and PIN numbers.

Barclays have pointed out that they would never ask for complete details like this.

And anyone who looked carefully could tell that the website wasn’t really on the Barclays site – but most of us aren’t that technically skilled.

This attempted fraud shows clearly that we all need to be very careful when using the web.

If you get an e-mail that asks you for security information, always contact your bank by e-mail to check what’s going on.

You know it makes sense!

Have you been caught out by online fraud?
Click here to have your say!