Actually, my reason for preferring paperbacks is simple - I can get more books on a bookshelf. :-) And I do re-read my books; I am just careful to be good to my paperbacks and I find I have no troubles with them lasting. In fact, I've got some paperbacks on my shelves that are 15-20 years old. But I, too, am about to break down and go buy the hardback. I'll just read it, then do what I always do when someone gifts me a hardback: take it to the used bookstore, turn it in for credit and get paperbacks. Of course, that would be after the paerback comes out. Stacy