Anyone who knows me knows that I am an avid reader. I majored in English because I love to read. I want to be a writer because I love to read. Nothing makes me happier than sitting down and losing myself in a novel.
So when e-readers started to gain in popularity with Amazon's Kindle and Sony's E-reader, I was incredibly resistant. How could people replace the tactile sensation of reading with a piece of plastic? What about trying to find your favorite passage in a book based on your recollections of where you were reading? How about my shelves and shelves of books that I've read? If I go digital, I won't have the satisfaction of seeing that.
These reasons, as well as the old person in me who hates change, resulted in my complete dismissal of e-readers as a revolutionary device. I wasn't interested, so I couldn't care less about it. Until I went to Seattle last year.
While visiting my aunt, we were wandering around town window shopping when she suggested we go into a local bookstore. As I browsed the shelves, I saw Neal Stephenson's Quicksilver, which I had never read. A big fan of his work, I decided to buy the 900 page tome despite the fact that I was travelling for the next week and it was a massive brick of a book. For the next seven days, it weighed down my bag as I walked around Seattle, but I kept carrying it in case I became bored and wanted to read something.
The thing that convinced me completely was actually holding a Kindle in my hands and seeing how it worked. Since it's only sold online, I never had a chance to see what the Kindle was really like; but a friend of mine owned one and was entirely satisfied with it. Once I saw how easy it is to use, how quickly you can download books, and how compact and convenient it is, I immediately decided to get one of my own.
My Kindle has actually made reading much easier for me. Since I live in the Richmond of San Francisco, there really aren't any bookstores nearby, so buying a new book is difficult. On top of which, I don't have room for more books; my bookshelf is barely large enough for me to keep my favorite volumes on hand (the rest are in storage in Lodi). Now, I can download a new book in seconds from anywhere for as low as $5 sometimes (though the average seems to be $10 right now since I read a lot of recently released material as well). I'll still buy physical copies of books that I'm absolutely in love with, but the Kindle allows for me to download my favorite authors' new work the second it's available. Plus, I can highlight and take notes of passages that I like without the stigma of vandalizing my book; and the Kindle keeps all of these in once easy-to-access file.
It does have downsides, of course. I can't share my library with anyone else, you can't borrow e-books from libraries because of Amazon's stance on DRM or something, and some of the newly released books are as much as $15, which I think is way too much for a digital version since print versions of new books are sold for as little as $20 despite a list price of $40.
Even with those downsides, I absolutely love my Kindle. It's changed the way I read, the way I take in information, and since I have a ton of Amazon credit from various online surveys that I participate in, I have the funds to buy as many books as I want for a while. Anyone else have any thoughts on the e-reader revolution? Feel free to comment!
I converted a year ago when my dad bought me my Nook and I LOVE it. What's really neat (not to knock the Kindle) is that you can loan other Nook-owners ebooks for 2 weeks and check out ebooks from the library on it as well as download classics from project gutenberg for free!
ReplyDeleteSlowly but surely, I am finding myself becoming more and more enthusiastic about e-readers.
ReplyDeleteLike you, I've been a staunch advocate for hard copies of texts, particularly for the tactile experience that comes with reading. My shift in perspective stems from a few elements: 1) the absurd number of pdf documents I read on a daily basis for school, 2) my rapidly growing book collection, which my studio apartment can barely contain (I have stacks of books on tabletops, under tables, on the floor, in baskets...), and 3) the fact that I use technology (my smartphone, my laptop) to do so much more than I used to. Also, I spend a lot of time working outside (yay, Santa Barbara sunshine), and it's impossible to read electronic docs on the laptop with all the glare.
At the moment, I'm planning on buying either the Sony digital ereader or the Nook by Barnes and Noble sometime in the next few months. The Nook, of course, won't read ebooks from amazon (which is a downside, given the number of books I buy from there), but it will read epub books, and allows for sharing.
Given the fact that bookstores seem to be a dying breed, I feel like my reading life will have to evolve to include digital readers. But thanks for sharing your experience, Amanda! It's nice to hear other perspectives on the matter.
My only issue with the Nook is that it's backlit, and so reading on it for an extended period of time would really stress out my eyes. The Kindle screen looks like an actual piece of paper, so I don't have that strain. Since I spend all my time these days on the computer, my eyes really need a break when I'm reading books. It's too bad though; I'd love to have some of the capabilities that are available on the Nook.
ReplyDeleteOK, so I'm late to this party ... I like searching text & highlighting passages because it helps me remember what I liked about the book. Reading seems to flow better without physical pages. This is especially good for book club books that might not have been my first choice to read. When I travel, I don't have to decide what to bring & what to leave behind. Even though at Christmas I was given a hard copy of "Wilderness Warrior" (Theodore Roosevelt biography) I still bought the digital version because 800+ pages gets heavy at night. The drawbacks are minor, such as the 4-way nav key, which is quaint. And, I feel like "swiping" to turn pages. (No I do not want an iPad as a reader for a lot of reasons, but that's another discussion.) I think it's only a matter of time before Amazon allows downloads from public sources like the library.
ReplyDeleteMy nook's the first generation one so it's not backlit the way the new color one is. I didn't want a backlit screen either because I was already spending my days in front of a computer and figured I should give my eyes a break!
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