My reading has moved into the 21st century this week with a bang - not through choice of reading material, that has sat firmly in the eighteenth century, but how I'm reading.
I've read a few of the debates on 'the death of print' over the past couple of years, hysterical pronouncements that print is dead and we will all now read electronically, which I find quite silly. I still looked with interest at the ebook Reader when bookshops started stocking it, but never thought it was for me.
My brother has one and when we all went on a trip to London last month he sat on the train using it, happy in the knowledge that he had dozens of books with him. On the other hand I carried the book I was reading, the book I planned to read next, a different book to read next in case I changed my mind, and a couple more just to be sure I didn't run out which, for a busy three night trip, was possibly a little over the top and certainly quite heavy.
At Christmas my father received a Reader and I had another look at it and bought some ebooks for him, which was very easy. So when my parents asked if I wanted one for my birthday I said yes, but still wondered if I would actually use it.
During the four weeks between Christmas and my birthday, though, it preyed on my mind quite a bit. The deciding moment was when I saw a trailer for Lark Rise to Candleford and realised it was written about the nineteenth century not the 1930s or '40s as I had thought. I suddenly really wanted to read it now and realised that if I had a Reader I could download it and read it now, instead of just wanting to (although, as it turned out, for that particular book I could read it now anyway, as I had a long neglected paperback copy of it hidden away on a shelf, and very good it was too - a big improvement for my second book of the year) and so the benefits of the Reader began to become apparent.
Now, after my birthday last week, I have my own ebook Reader, and it's great. Easy to read and I was able to work out how to get books onto it without spousal assistance, so full marks there. A CD of 100 classics comes with it; I expected to find very few books on it which I didn't already have, but was pleasantly surprised. Although there are the usual Austen and Dickens etc, there are also a number of unexpected books which I have neither read nor got on the shelf - my criteria for putting them on the machine. Hopefully now I will be able to remedy the shameful fact that I have never read Balzac as several works were included.
My first trial of the machine was with The Autobiography of Benjamin Franklin which is a surprisingly good read and a very interesting view of life in eighteenth century America. I got halfway through it in a day, with no headaches or other symptoms usually associated with reading electronic formats, so all in all I am very impressed.
Then there is the potential for library expansion, albeit virtual. Project Gutenberg alone has so many out of copyright works to download which I can now easily (with a few formatting blips) read using the reader that it leaves me feeling a bit dazed. I have only downloaded a couple so far, but the new works opened up to me for free (although my conscience insists I donate to the project) are quite overwhelming. And in these uncertain times any opportunity to save money while still increasing my library is welcome.
All in all I am quite won over. I'm not saying that it will replace proper books in my life, that would be ridiculous, and I will, I'm sure, still buy plenty of old technology literature, but it is a good addition to my reading life.
I've read a few of the debates on 'the death of print' over the past couple of years, hysterical pronouncements that print is dead and we will all now read electronically, which I find quite silly. I still looked with interest at the ebook Reader when bookshops started stocking it, but never thought it was for me.
My brother has one and when we all went on a trip to London last month he sat on the train using it, happy in the knowledge that he had dozens of books with him. On the other hand I carried the book I was reading, the book I planned to read next, a different book to read next in case I changed my mind, and a couple more just to be sure I didn't run out which, for a busy three night trip, was possibly a little over the top and certainly quite heavy.
At Christmas my father received a Reader and I had another look at it and bought some ebooks for him, which was very easy. So when my parents asked if I wanted one for my birthday I said yes, but still wondered if I would actually use it.
During the four weeks between Christmas and my birthday, though, it preyed on my mind quite a bit. The deciding moment was when I saw a trailer for Lark Rise to Candleford and realised it was written about the nineteenth century not the 1930s or '40s as I had thought. I suddenly really wanted to read it now and realised that if I had a Reader I could download it and read it now, instead of just wanting to (although, as it turned out, for that particular book I could read it now anyway, as I had a long neglected paperback copy of it hidden away on a shelf, and very good it was too - a big improvement for my second book of the year) and so the benefits of the Reader began to become apparent.
Now, after my birthday last week, I have my own ebook Reader, and it's great. Easy to read and I was able to work out how to get books onto it without spousal assistance, so full marks there. A CD of 100 classics comes with it; I expected to find very few books on it which I didn't already have, but was pleasantly surprised. Although there are the usual Austen and Dickens etc, there are also a number of unexpected books which I have neither read nor got on the shelf - my criteria for putting them on the machine. Hopefully now I will be able to remedy the shameful fact that I have never read Balzac as several works were included.
My first trial of the machine was with The Autobiography of Benjamin Franklin which is a surprisingly good read and a very interesting view of life in eighteenth century America. I got halfway through it in a day, with no headaches or other symptoms usually associated with reading electronic formats, so all in all I am very impressed.
Then there is the potential for library expansion, albeit virtual. Project Gutenberg alone has so many out of copyright works to download which I can now easily (with a few formatting blips) read using the reader that it leaves me feeling a bit dazed. I have only downloaded a couple so far, but the new works opened up to me for free (although my conscience insists I donate to the project) are quite overwhelming. And in these uncertain times any opportunity to save money while still increasing my library is welcome.
All in all I am quite won over. I'm not saying that it will replace proper books in my life, that would be ridiculous, and I will, I'm sure, still buy plenty of old technology literature, but it is a good addition to my reading life.
5 comments:
I'm interested to hear about your ereader experience, as I've been skeptical myself.
I've read the odd book online via Project Gutenberg (when I couldn't get my hands on any other copy) and had the sore eyes to prove it. Ereaders obviously fix this although given my love for books as physical objects as well as stories, I win't be getting one anytime soon.
Eloise:
Thanks for your report on the eBook reader. I have been wavering back and forth about whether to get one or not. Still in undecided mode. :-) New puppy on the way! http://fiskemiles.blogspot.com/2009/01/6-week-pups.html
Fiske
Hi Eloise,
We've been writing a lot on our blog (cltl.umassd.edu/blog) about how reading is changing as people move away from print media and towards new technologies.
It's interesting to hear that you like the ereader. I think the concept is neat and the potential for greater accessibility and storage are definitely pluses. I think I like breaking the spines of my books (horror!), scribbling in the margins, and surrounding myself with bookshelves of texts too much to make the switch.
Is there a way to write notes or underline passages with the ereader in a way that lets you save them or export them? If I could underline significant passages and then export them to a file on my computer, that'd be a plus, I'd say!
This is very interesting, as (like you) I tend to overpack books for trips, which gets very heavy. I am already thinking about how many I will have to bring for a 5-day conference in May, plus travel! Ten books at least! On an e-reader of some kind, this would be much eased. It's the feel of it I wonder about, and also feeling "lost" in the text -- not knowing how far I've read or how far I have to go. Any comments on that?
A bit sad for the second hand book dealers, though!
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