I get a lot more out of reading paper books. Because I'm a speed reader, and highly visual, and can absorb a lot more information from well designed books (have the odd skill of being able to read an entire page at once, kinda like mass data aggregation, and I continually skip back and forth between paragraphs, pages). This is much harder on a computer screen. Like how people who are fast readers can get frustrated with text in a movie that stays on the screen for like forever, for people who are slower readers. Also, being tactile/kinaesthetic (touching, feeling is part of the learning experience), not having books means missing out on physically engaging, turning pages, picking up a pen and writing in the margins, and so forth. Once technology advances enough so that we can have devices that mimic the look and feel of paperbooks-- that'll be nice. Reading on tablets and small devices is frustrating, it's like reading at a snail's pace, a screen for ants.
Check out that Nook Simpletouch Glowlight. It's darn cheap and has that E-ink, non-backlight thing going for it. As for scale it's between a paperback and a trade paperback. But reading it is a pleasure. It's like creamy lotion for the eyes. No, that'd probably burn. It's eye-candy.