Physical books are a real slog to finish, I admit. I'm even 5 issues behind on reading my PC Gaming Magazine. 😜 I choose to have the physical copy of a magazine to have a curated list of the best games to play. Links would get lost in the chaos of my attention.
For my nonfiction I need the physical book and annotations to fully absorb the material. I’ve definitely read some ebooks with a ton of links and I couldn’t agree with you more on them getting lost! I thought that love of notes and highlights would transfer to fiction but it doesn’t at all!
I imagine if a series is complex enough with timelines to follow, I could see where it could be handy. Some books are appreciated more on a repeat reading. I suspect that's the minority by far.
I could see that being an instance where it’s handy.