Andy - good read.  I agree with the convenience of the printed materials.  I enjoy reading all kinds of industry mags or other materials on the morning commute.  I try to encourage my fellow team members to read outside of their focused area of SQL Server.  There are so many free white papers out there from product vendors, think tanks, government or educational establishments etc… sure there may be a vendor ‘tint’ or bias but I feel that’s part of the fun and forces more critical thought.

I do have mixed feelings about printed books…  first, I always try to find the eBook version so that I don’t have to carry the extra weight and it is also easily searchable.  It is so nice to have that library on disk when you don't have access to the Internet or you're at a client's site.  I really just find that by the time the books are published and I get my hands on them they are only good for about 12 months (if that) before more current material is required.  I guess it depends upon the book – I just try to avoid buying printed books on real release specific topics.  I do admit to printing part of the eBooks after I purchase them… so maybe I am a bit of a hypocrite though I did not say I was trying to save trees!