The Reading Revolution

[midwestyankee]

Thank you, sorry, you're welcome, have a nice day!

You're not driving a horseless carriage now are you Yanks??

How did you guess? The best thing about my Stanley Steamer is that I don't have to buy any gasoline. Just fill 'er up with water in the morning, start up the boiler, and hiss my way up to Mabel's for coffee and gossip about Hoover's latest fuckups in the White House. Of course, it doesn't have one of those plug-in things to light your cigar—or power up your iEgoMaker—either.

 

[Keroin]

How did you guess? The best thing about my Stanley Steamer is that I don't have to buy any gasoline. Just fill 'er up with water in the morning, start up the boiler, and hiss my way up to Mabel's for coffee and gossip about Hoover's latest fuckups in the White House. Of course, it doesn't have one of those plug-in things to light your cigar—or power up your iEgoMaker—either.

Ha! Smart arse.



I'm also really fascinated by what's happening in the publishing world. E-publishing, IMO, is going to do for writers what Youtube did for musicians. You're going to get a whole lot of crap suddenly available for public consumption but you're also going to get some gems who have been overlooked by the traditional system. I mean, there's no end of stories of books that were rejected by publisher after publisher in the manuscript stage, that finally found a home and went on to be bestsellers.

I recently read an article about an author who started out e-publishing, then was picked up by Harper-Collins Avon, then publicly ditched them...and announced she was going back to e-publishing because she was unhappy with how they were marketing her work.

Oh wait...here's the article: http://www.guardian.co.uk/books/2011/sep/15/novelist-ditches-publisher-book-launch

Whatever you think of her decision, it's a bold statement. Especially in a business where writers are all but powerless until they start earning the big dough.

 

[RjThoughts]

That is a good plan and one of the limitations to e-readers. They are amazing for travel, but they do have all the usual "electronics weaknesses".

Still, they're pretty damned handy when you don't have to worry about those!

Came in damn handy when the wife and son were in Ikea for HOURS. I went to a cafe close by, sat and read from it while they looked at "Assembled by Allen Wrench" furniture.

 

[Cattypuss]

I suppose the day will come when e-readers just make paper books obsolete - when you can still buy a paper book but it has to be printed to order and costs 20 times what the same book in digital format costs.

Even though that means we'll be using a lot less of the earth's resources (so is in theory A Good Thing), it makes me feel very sad. I've been loving paper books for about 40 years now and I never throw a book that was any good away - my house's walls are lined with custom-made bookcases, which are filled with every good book I've ever read. I find their presence comforting ("books do furnish a room"... but it's more than that - it's akin to being surrounded by photos of happy times) and what's more I very often think "Oh that passage in such-and-such a novel would really fit this situation/my mood.." - so I'm forever getting them down off the shelves to have another look at them.

 

[intothewoods]

Do you mean aesthetically or...?

Well, I do feel like a living room or den, or even a bedroom, is missing something if it doesn't have books in it, but I also feel like my book collection says something about me. I love looking at books from college, books that were gifts, my cookbooks, etc.

 

[rosco rathbone]

When they make an e reader that feels as good as a paper book, I'll switch.

 

[cfuhrer]

my house's walls are lined with custom-made bookcases, which are filled with every good book I've ever read. I find their presence comforting ("books do furnish a room"... but it's more than that - it's akin to being surrounded by photos of happy times)

*happy sigh*

and what's more I very often think "Oh that passage in such-and-such a novel would really fit this situation/my mood.." - so I'm forever getting them down off the shelves to have another look at them.

I know exactly what you mean; mine are all in boxes though, so I have to go digging for them.

 

[wicked woman]

Well, I do feel like a living room or den, or even a bedroom, is missing something if it doesn't have books in it, but I also feel like my book collection says something about me. I love looking at books from college, books that were gifts, my cookbooks, etc.

When I was in high school and babysat a lot, the first thing I did at a new family, after the kids were in bed, was check out their books. Unfortunately I was usually disappointed.

My dining room has a wall of book cases. More than once I've had people over for dinner and over a lazy conversation it would turn to something of interest they saw in my book cases.

 

[JMohegan]

So I'm curious about your reading habits. If you have an e-reader, how do you like it? Do you purchase mostly e-books or mostly paper books?

My Kindle is fine for quick read basic texts, e.g. the latest Tom Perrotta novel. It's also a good way to access out of copyright or hard to find books, and obviously convenient for travel. The Kindle is annoying as fuck when reading a text that contains maps, charts, or quality illustrations.

My den is lined with built-in bookshelves, on which I keep my most treasured physical possessions. Like ITW, I'd say my books comprise a personal history of sorts, including my favorites from childhood, college, etc. Many were gifts, and are inscribed with notes from the sender. Some are family heirlooms, a few inscribed with notes written by ancestors whom I never even met. This is what I consider to be a real library, and I won't give it up. Ever.

The difference between a Kindle and a real library is the difference between a collection of words and a collection of books. Words can be inspiring, funny, informative, etc. Books are all that... plus art, scent, heft, and personal memories.

I'm curious how you feel about paper books from an environmental standpoint?

I'm a lot more concerned about the environmental impact from manufacture and disposal of all these electronic gadgets people seem to be going through like toilet paper - including ereaders. Buy/upgrade & discard/buy/upgrade & discard/etc.

 

[Keroin]

I'm a lot more concerned about the environmental impact from manufacture and disposal of all these electronic gadgets people seem to be going through like toilet paper - including ereaders. Buy/upgrade & discard/buy/upgrade & discard/etc.

This is a very valid point.

My laptop is almost 5 years old and I realize that by today's standard it is "ancient".

But, I can tell you, I've spared a lot of waste using a laptop for my work instead of paper.

Hm. Interesting.

 

[intothewoods]

When they make an e reader that feels as good as a paper book, I'll switch.

See, I don't get this. I like the design of e-readers - they're lightweight, slim. If we're talking e-reader v. paperback, I think the e-reader feels just as good if not better.

When I was in high school and babysat a lot, the first thing I did at a new family, after the kids were in bed, was check out their books. Unfortunately I was usually disappointed.

My dining room has a wall of book cases. More than once I've had people over for dinner and over a lazy conversation it would turn to something of interest they saw in my book cases.

I always check out what's in the bookcase! We really don't have a great spot in our house for books, and it totally bums out both me and my husband.

<snip>
My den is lined with built-in bookshelves, on which I keep my most treasured physical possessions. </snip>

hawt!

This is a very valid point.

My laptop is almost 5 years old and I realize that by today's standard it is "ancient".

But, I can tell you, I've spared a lot of waste using a laptop for my work instead of paper.

Hm. Interesting.

Yeah, it's a bit of a mixed bag. The rate at which new phones, e-readers and other gadgets come out makes it difficult to treat your technology as an investment. On the other hand, there are various ways to recycle all this stuff, including giving them to charity, but I suppose most people aren't aware of those options.

 

[SirLicksAalot]

My Kindle is fine for quick read basic texts, e.g. the latest Tom Perrotta novel. It's also a good way to access out of copyright or hard to find books, and obviously convenient for travel. The Kindle is annoying as fuck when reading a text that contains maps, charts, or quality illustrations.

I feel exactly the same way as you about this. I do read most often with my Kindle, but those are mainly novels, I'd go out of my mind If I try to read manuals with illustrations on an e-reader.

I still buy paper books, BUT only if I feel that the book merits being owned in print form. For the "not so special" books, I use an e-reader.

 

[graceanne]

I don't have one, but I covet them massively.

I like both paper and nonpaper books, but I'm rather hard on my favorite books cause i read them over and over and over. I'd began to buy e-books and now I have hundreds. I want an e-book so I can take my books to bed with me and in the car for when I'm sitting in pickup lines.

 

[unregistered]

 

[ChrissieLecker]

Sometime this month (don't remember the exact date) is my 10 years anniversary of reading books electronically, back then on a Palm Pilot. The display quality was rather awful and you could count on one hand the number of text lines it could fit, but hey, it was new, it was cool, and I could take it with me on train rides, which I did a lot. The available books were mostly classics in the public domain, so it also had an educating effect. And it allowed me to delve into the Story of O on lonely evenings in hotel rooms

A few years later I got my hands on a HP Pocket PC and found some internet sources for commercial (and often times quite dirty, hehe) ebooks, and at that point I really got hooked. I could take 20 books with me on holidays for the weight of a medium sized hard cover and read them quite comfortably.

I now own a Kindle, which has accompanied me on a number of holidays, and neither the pesky beach sand nor occasional (short, wouldn't leave it in the rain for too long) showers of monsoon rain did any harm to it. And even if I forget to take it with me on small trips, the books are also synced to my cell phone and my tablet computer, including the page numbers where I stopped reading.

As I tend to read 3 to 4 books a week, it's a blessing that I don't have to decide which books to stow away in the basement anymore.

The ebook reader still can't replace illustrated books and technical books where I need to thumb back and forth a lot, but I'm convinced it's only a matter of a few years until display quality and ease of use have completely caught up.

 

[midwestyankee]

So what is the consensus e-reader of choice, reading fans? Is it the Kindle, the Nook, or is there another one out there that is somehow superior to all others but is not as famous?

Are there compatibility issues? Availability issues?

This inquiring mind wants to know.

 

[KoPilot]

I travel a lot and still have no use for an e-reader. Mostly because I don't feel the need to bring a crapton of books with me places anyways, as I read one book at a time (and am a slow reader anyways). I also rarely, if ever, re-read books, so I have no need to carry an entire library with me.

The ones I DO re-read are reference materials and comics, the content of which are all extremely image-heavy, if not nothing BUT images. I've never much liked the image reproduction on gadgets like those (and smart phones and such), and it's much easier for my eyes to digest what I'm looking at if it's printed. And that goes for text-based publications that are formatted for the printed page as well. There's just something about reading them on a screen that makes it more laborous for me to digest the information. Not sure why. Blogs? Fine. Forums? Great. Fanfiction and short stories? Even those I feel totally comfortable with getting through the computer. But books are different somehow.

My relevant blog rant on the subject went thusly:

Books are a culture; book-binding and book-making are an art; paper, a science. Physical books actually mean something beyond the words that are in them. You can’t write a dedication in an e-book that’ll last you your lifetime, or get it signed by the author that wrote it. They don’t age, they don’t carry sentimental value. They won’t work after being dropped, driven over, spilled on, or dying without access to power. You can’t lend an e-book to somebody with all your notes in it, you can’t turn the pages. You can’t give it to your kids or pass it on as an heirloom. E-books and e-readers have a purpose… but saying that they’re just as good, if not better, than real books is like saying the same about porn and sex. They’re just not.