The Future of Reading

Many people don't like the idea of electronic books because they have a strong attachment to the tactile feel of a paper book. I can understand that attachment, but I don't share it. For me, what makes a book magic is not the feeling of the book in my hands, but the feeling of the words in my mind.

I think that the jury will be out on this for quite a while. There are still tecnology issues with Kindle. For example, if you already have already purchased ebooks in pdf format they cannot be transferred over to the new reader. That eliminates thousands of electronically published books from your cyber-library. And while the new device seems better in terms of size and readability, I will still prefer a printed book after a long day staring at a computer monitor. To me, an electronic device will never ellicit the thrill of a page-turning novel or the option of tossing it down in disgust when an author disappoints.
I do see the advantages for developing countries - but won't we have to also provide electricity to recharge them? People all over the world are still reading by candlelight, firelight, and the occasional solar-powered flashlight.
We still have a ways to go before this can be dubbed the invention of the decade.

So many comments by so many people who have not even seen one. So many objections by people writing in the dark.
Expensive? Sure. But relatively speaking a hardcover at (say, for example) $25 now will be $10. Just twenty seven books, and this will have completely paid for itself. Any one who wouldn't read 30 books is not really a candidate for this market, anyway.
Not back lit? I've never seen a book that was, either.
Too few grey shades? How many does the typical best-seller have, anyway?
Won't last forever, like a book will? Actually, very few books (and I have hundreds...) will be around longer than this. A new color, a new model, a new design to come in the future? Okay sure, but the Kindle I just got will always do what it does today, too. No, I cannot gift copies, and I cannot sell my used eBooks, but I didn't pay but a fraction of the price. And, I can always read it, find a gift, and order a hardcopy to give.
Where I live, there are not bookstores, the last one having failed (it seems no one wanted to buy paper-printed books, any more anyway...) . I have to drive 50 minutes to actually stand in a bookstore, so online sources like Amazon and BN.com are about the only source. The prospect of instant delivery at a discount price is a real benefit to us. And the delivery of newspapers, especially the Wall Street Journal on time is a plus, immediately in the moring instead of end-of-day in the mail.
No, this new tool is not all things to all people, and will not replace all books any more than the Internet has replaced all other media. But those who predict its imminent death the week after it has been introduced and without even seeing one are going to be surprised at the staying power of this new implementation of the technologies.

So many comments by so many people who have not even seen one. So many objections by people writing in the dark.
Expensive? Sure. But relatively speaking a hardcover at (say, for example) $25 now will be $10. Just twenty seven books, and this will have completely paid for itself. Any one who wouldn't read 30 books is not really a candidate for this market, anyway.
Not back lit? I've never seen a book that was, either.
Too few grey shades? How many does the typical best-seller have, anyway?
Won't last forever, like a book will? Actually, very few books (and I have hundreds...) will be around longer than this. A new color, a new model, a new design to come in the future? Okay sure, but the Kindle I just got will always do what it does today, too. No, I cannot gift copies, and I cannot sell my used eBooks, but I didn't pay but a fraction of the price. And, I can always read it, find a gift, and order a hardcopy to give.
Where I live, there are not bookstores, the last one having failed (it seems no one wanted to buy paper-printed books, any more anyway...) . I have to drive 50 minutes to actually stand in a bookstore, so online sources like Amazon and BN.com are about the only source. The prospect of instant delivery at a discount price is a real benefit to us. And the delivery of newspapers, especially the Wall Street Journal on time is a plus, immediately in the moring instead of end-of-day in the mail.
No, this new tool is not all things to all people, and will not replace all books any more than the Internet has replaced all other media. But those who predict its imminent death the week after it has been introduced and without even seeing one are going to be surprised at the staying power of this new implementation of the technologies.

Imagine the impact this will have on developing world. Books are costly to print and costly to move. But this disruptive technology that will lower the cost of transporting the best books to the developing world. This also lowers the cost of books coming from the developing world.

Imagine the impact this will have on developing world. Books are costly to print and costly to move. But this disruptive technology that will lower the cost of transporting the best books to the developing world. This also lowers the cost of books coming from the developing world.

This picture of Mr. Bezos could send the message to young people that reading books is for homosexuals .

People who have never grown up with books as children are probably not going to begin reading them on an electronic device like the Kindle. Books have become symbols of who we are. When I walk into someone's home and they have a library of books, I know right away what kind of person they are: intelligent, well-rounded and worldly. Vice versa for people who don't read.

As wonderful a space-saving and paper-saving product as the Kindle will be, I don't think it can ever replace the traditional book and its symbolism of our civility and humanity. Remember "Farenheit 451"?

Sorry, previous post got submitted before I was finished???

Two reasons I think this new product (and the previously introduced options) that enables one to purchase digital books is fantastic; 1) In these times of angst about global warming it presents a huge opportunity to contribute to reducing the negative impact on the environment of the actual production of the "book" as we now know it and 2) the fact that it will enable access to the written word (virtually anyway) for those for whom a local library or bookstore in their language of choice is only a dream. I realize that books have been available online for many years (I actually read an illustrated version of ???The Secret Garden??? to my 5 year old son back in 1989 off of our computer screen via Prodigy using a 1200 baud modem ??? probably a minute to load each page! and am also a member of Questia) ??? so think that the point of the article is not this particular product but merely the concept.




a local

Two reasons I think this new product (and the previously introduced options) that enables one to purchase digital books is fantastic; 1) In these times of angst about global warming it presents a huge opportunity to contribute to reducing the negative impact on the environment of the actual production of the "book" as we now know it and 2) the fact that it will enable access to the written word (virtually anyway) for those for whom a local

millions will not know what a book is if this didgital revolution takes place. Well, so what. Dummies can always get it on the web

Smells to me like another Segway! Can't believe Newsweek supplied a cover-story advertisement for Amazon just prior to Christmas. In spite of this it is doomed to go down in flames.

Smells like a Segway -- can't believe Newsweek supplied a cover-story advertisment for Amazon right before Christmas! Inspite of this, it is doomed to go down in flames.

I looked at the Kindle -- then went out and bought a Iliad from iRex.

http://www.irextechnologies.com/products/iliad

The Iliad has a bigger, better screen with more grey scale shades. It is more open and developer friendly and has less consumer lock-in. These things outweigh the Iliad's higher price tag for me.

I already have hundreds of programming reference manuals and technical specs for my work as HTML or PDF files. The Iliad will make it more convenient keeping them handy for meetings and travel.

Out book the book, eh. Well, Kindle, (or something else that will work around its proprietary wall), may survive the test of time, but children???s book sure ain???t going into this tekky rabbit hole. Children???s book will have to take a counter-intuitive, high-touch pathway into the future. Children???s books involve the adult and the child in a shared experience, a bond that can create book lovers and readers who love to read for pleasure generation after generation. At least in theory. The reality is that our stress-driven learning culture has associated books and reading with the crush of academic achievement, and a recent study shows that vast number of reading kids stop reading in their early teens. Perhaps Kindle will rekindle their love, but reading for pleasure is partly a good habit that requires quiet sitting and focused meditation; you have to already love reading to reach and pay for a Kindle. Children???s books will need an invention that expands and radiates the classical storybook reading experience that begins in very early childhood. Again, that would be a high-touch kind of cocktail that turns the storybook into a communication springboard for play and improvisation, something that would actually alter the meaning and use of the children???s storybook as we know it, something that would inject a whole new element into shared reading that could become an explosive and revolutionary leap for publishing. High tech is not always the answer. John Harrison showed us that when he invented a longitude clock using wood instead of popular metal for key elements to prevent rusting in the sea air. If anybody out there wants to pursue these thoughts, reach me @ papertalker using gmail.

Six months after Kindle emerges, there will be Kindle2 at half the price, half the size, flashy colors, etc. But it won't let you access any books you bought for the Kindle, will have a new opearting procedure. Aren't America's attics already clogged with unuseable electronic devices? The books I bought in college are as easy to read today as they were 30 years ago..

It was Stephenson, in "The ludenic theory of newsreading", an article published in Journalism Quarterly 41, 1964, who came up with the description of intense, absorptive reading as "ludic play". Nell quotes him. Trust me, I'm a librarian, and I have Nell's book right here. I love the questions Stephen Levy poses about reading and authorship in the future. We have a subscription service at the library so people can download e-books by inputting their library card number, but my computer screen isn't "comfortable" so I'd really like to try the Kindle.

The new Kindle is a great invention for those who like to read on the go and may not have the time or means to go to an actual bookstore and buy a hard copy of a book. The problem, however, comes in when the software becomes outdated and the electronic book needs to be updated because of glitches and the like. While the book may attract the younger generation because of it's technologically advanced features, technology is always subject to change and have something wrong with it. It is fallible, and books are not.

Ugly, overpriced, not backlit and too dependent on proprietary downloads. No thanks.