The high quality hardcovers address none of the complaints.

They are big, and bulky. They don't fit into a backpack. And you can't simply hold them in one hand and read, anywhere you sit. Like a bench in a garden. You need a space dedicated to reading them.

In terms of utility, hardcovers are strictly worse.

If they're bigger than paperbacks (dimensions and weight), then they're inferior.

Sure - if I have a nice chair to sit on in the evening, with good lighting, and can rest it on something, they're quite nice. But the bulk of my reading is either outside of home (so they need to fit in my bag nicely) in an uncomfortable chair, or while lying down so I need to hold the book up. Weight/size really matters here.

When I was a kid I asked around, and in those days the reasons I was given were:

1. They're durable - less likely to fall apart - and may last generations.

2. The font is bigger.

No they are not, who wants to haul around a book when my kindle fits in my pocket? One I can’t read in the dark without an external light?

When I was little, like 10 years old, I was obsessed with reading when not in school. Also I had a lot of insomniac nighttime hours to deal with. And my parents got wise to leaving the light on in my bedroom, or the classic TV-ploy, "flashlight under the covers". So, in an attempt to fool them, I would bring my favorite tome into the bathroom, where they routinely left the light on all night, and I'd slip into the dry bathtub, and read to my heart's content. And I believe that this went on for some time until they figured out or called my bluff. They considered it weird and quirky that I'd chosen that route, but I really needed my books.

Later in my teenage years, I would be spending inordinate time in the bathroom every evening, with a tub of Vaseline. That's right, I was able to solve a lubricated, optimized Rubik's Cube in 63 seconds!

NERD