I admit, I've been dragging my feet on this one. I trained as a medievalist; I think vellum's pretty cool. How can a screen compete with books the size of paving stones, precious metals, and images like these? Not that I own any books like the manuscript linked above, but still. For my fellow reader (FR) and spouse, though, the transition looks to be easy. He "test drove" reading an e-book, using a PC and iPhone app called Stanza recently. For him, the switch went flawlessly; in fact, I think he finished the book faster than he usually does.
The difference I think lies in our reading habits (although this Wall Street Journal blog post has an overview of a survey of e-books and gender). My FR does his reading almost exclusively online. News, blogs, it's all on screen and more information is a click away. Switching topics is as easy as opening a new tab. For him, the ability to have thousands of one books available through one, portable device is appealing. In other words, e-books fit in with his already-established pattern of reading.
My pattern of reading is different. Reading is the last thing I do at night before falling asleep. Books are stacked haphazardly on my nightstand (a habit I might have to revisit if I move to a Kindle or iPad) and throughout the house. On vacation I squish books into suitcases and carry-ons. I pick books up, start and stop them at will, riffle through the pages. My pattern of reading is firmly in the dark ages.
One thing this discussion has encouraged me to think about is the kinds of situations where I might actually want to use an e-book. So far, I've ruled out vacations and plane travel: one plus for a bound book is that you don't have to wait until after takeoff to read, and I wonder how a Kindle fares when hitting the beach? Likewise, I can't imagine sitting down with a toddler and firing up The Cat in the Hat on the iPad, unless I really wanted to test the warranty.
Realistically, we'll wind up with a Kindle or an iPad, and I'll venture further into e-books. But I can't help but wonder how different the experience will be? A few years ago, while waiting for a train in Birmingham, England, I had three hours to kill on a warm summer day. I dashed into a City Centre Waterstone's, bought a book at on recommendation of a friendly clerk, and settled down to read in a churchyard. I carried the book home with me and it's sitting on a shelf today, a reminder of my trip. How will that look on the Kindle?
Dear readers, if you have any thoughts on e-books, please leave a comment below!
3 comments:
Ok, I don't think we've been having "the discussion" . . . not with scare quotes, anyway. I've been thinking about buying an e-reader (probably iPad) because we moved the book-cases back in the spring and it was apparent to me then just how much paper we have in the house, and I wondered why I hadn't made the switch to paperless books.
I admit I've always felt the same way . . . that paper books were somehow "special" . . . but I've been doing enough reading online to be comfortable with the idea.
I think what you're getting at with our reading habits is that I already do a lot of reading on a computer screen . . . probably greater than 50% of my reading is blogs and other online material. This is true.
But it's interesting when you talk about your reading habits and the convenience level of bound vs. electronic books. To me, the convenience factor is why I am interested in e-books. Sure, you might not want to read on the iPad in the bathtub, and you'd be unlikely to feel comfortable leaving it on the beach towel while taking a walk down the beach (but . . . would you feel comfortable leaving your wallet or purse? Or $29 hardcover?). And toddler reading would be problematic (but before you agree with that check out this video).
But instead of trying to stuff three hardcover novels into my already bursting suitcase, I can carry my entire library easily. And it would allow you to indulge your habit of starting and stopping multiple books if you could easily carry all those books on a trip. And in England you could have downloaded any book you wanted from a public WiFi site and still read in that churchyard (true, no friendly salesperson though, but it's not like you usually find one in Borders either). And I'd be able to move my library from room to room without all that sweating and cursing.
Now . . . we could talk about open and closed formats, screen types, DRM, etc . . .
Laura and I have a Kindle. She uses it a lot more than me and just enjoys it. Honeslty, we've only hit up free ebooks from a variety of websites. I guess I'd recommend the Kindle with a larger screen. It just provides a more readable area.
Brett
Thanks for the thoughts you two!
I think I'm moving in the direction of using a Kindle or something else, but very slowly.
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