The Death of the Book and the Future of Reading
I'm a busy guy. I've got a great wife and two young kids I love to spend time with, not to mention a job at a newspaper covering politics that keeps me pretty busy. Who has time to read these days?
Aside from the barrage of words I have to consume as part of my job, I'm actually getting in a decent amount of pleasure reading these days, consuming one or two books a week depending. When you consider how tightly budgeted my time is these days, that's pretty good.
So how do I do this? Here's the part where I get a lot of funny looks from people:
I do most of my reading on my phone. Yup, my iPhone. I spend an hour or so a day commuting, and it's a lot better than fumbling with a paper back.
Sure the screen's not huge, but the font is adjustable. But what about eye strain you say? Isn't reading on a backlit screen hard on your eyes? Actually, no. I've even researched this and most of the problems associated with eye strain were associated with older computer monitors with fewer pixels and slower refresh rates. In fact, according to this New York Times article, "Certain types of paper, including inexpensive newsprint and the paper in softcover books, can actually provide an inferior reading experience for our eyes than the electronic alternatives." As someone who's plowed through many dingy mass-market paperbacks in his day, that observation sure feels true to me.
Like most people, I still have a romantic attachment to books and I still read plenty of physical copies -- here's what my desk looks like as I'm typing this (and yes, I swear it's a total coincidence that The Screwtape Letters is sitting on top of Christopher Hitchens' just published memoir.) Then again, once upon a time my CD collection held talismanic significance to me and I've long since abandoned it in favor of internet-based music subscription services, satellite radio and MP3s.
If the idea of abandoning books still seems improbable, consider the advantages. There's the aforementioned portability and convenience. New ebooks tend to be substantially cheaper than hardbacks, and there are real benefits to the actual reading experience. For example, I just read Liaquat Ahamed's terrific Lords of Finance: The Bankers Who Broke the World, about the emergence of central banking as a political force in the early 20th century. On my phone, I was able to simply tap my screen whenever a footnote appeared, read it and tap again to quickly zip back to the text. (If I had that option when I was reading Infinite Jest, I would have hours of my life back.)
The one interesting wrinkle about eReaders is that I suspect that they are about to disrupt the economics of book publishing in a big way. While the Kindle was undoubtedly a gamechanger, I don't think it will upend things nearly as much as the iPad. The Kindle is a closed system. If you want a book on your Kindle, you pretty much have to purchase it through Amazon and only Amazon. The iPad, on the other hand, uses a third party standard for book files -- the free and open EPUB file format.
The good news is that you can buy EPUB files from many different stores on the internet in addition to the Apple's iBooks store. The bad news is that EPUB files can quickly and easily be traded on the internet through peer-to-peer networks, making it harder for authors to be compensated for their work. I took a quick look-see around parts of the internet that best resemble the Somali coast when it comes to intellectual property rights, and my suspicions were confirmed: Illegally trading ebook files on the internet has exploded since the iPad was introduced. Naturally, most the books being traded are popular fiction, but the offerings are getting more expansive. As someone who writes for a living, this is a little disconcerting. I saw at least three books being passed around on bit torrent written by people I know -- people that worked hard on those books and deserve money for their efforts.
On the other hand, I'm not one of these people that are fatalistic about technological advances. Frankly, anything that allows for more more creative ways for authors to find an audience and lights a fire under the New York publishing houses is probably a good thing in the long run.
You may be aghast at the prospect of reading on a screen, but with the emerging plethora of eReading options -- Kindle, smartphones, iPad, and the slew of Android tablets that are about to be released -- get back to me in a few years we'll see how much of a paper purist you remain.
The book is dying. Long may we read.
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Comments :
Jun '10
Re: The Death of the Book and the Future of Reading
It seems that (quality) digital publishing, like democracy, only works in societies where a majority of the people are honest and virtuous. Honesty has a lot of very practical applications.
Jul '10
Re: The Death of the Book and the Future of Reading
I'm a proud late adopter. Papyrus scrolls work just fine, if you weigh down each end with a can of Coors.
May '10
Re: The Death of the Book and the Future of Reading
The other thing I like about my Kindle or my iPad is that it makes an almost unlimited number of books portable on one light, thin device. I guess one advantage the publishers have with books published electronically is that (among honest readers, anyway) we can't lend them to each other.
Jul '10
Re: The Death of the Book and the Future of Reading
The Kindle has been a godsend for me. I spend a lot of time flying for work, and I no longer have to carry 2-3 books with me. No more worries about fitting my bag bulging with books into an overhead bin. The convenience alone makes it worthwhile to me over physical books, plus when I finish the book, I don't have to find more shelf space.
Aug '10
Re: The Death of the Book and the Future of Reading
I fall into the predicament that Mr. Hemingway lays out in the opening paragraph. After a long day of work, and everything else that comes after that I don't find much time to read. Typically the only reading I end up doing is following up on the News and Politics of the day through blogs and/or news articles on the web.
I've been hesitant to switch to audio-books as I feel I'm somehow cheating myself by not actually reading the book. However, I recently finished two Ohio State University Astronomy courses via podcast (Thank you, iTunes!) and realized how it makes life easier to fit that into the busy life schedule by doing bits and pieces during the commute.
If I get an iPad, or other eReader device, I think it will fit my lifestyle better and help me get more reading done. It's better than lugging several books around on trips.
Jun '10
Re: The Death of the Book and the Future of Reading
I still think eBooks are still overpriced. Nine dollars for an ebook that I can buy in paperback for a cheaper price is crazy. Or when an alternative paperback is much cheaper, no way. Yes, it is cheaper than a hardback, but the hardback is more expensive to produce, too. Publishers are shooting themselves in the foot if they think they can hold on to that model. Nothing is preventing an author from bypassing the publisher and going directly to the buyer or seller (Amazon or iTunes). That is when we will see ebooks take off.
Jul '10
Re: The Death of the Book and the Future of Reading
The New York Times article is written for elitists who are proud of their early adoptions.
That said, this ricochet piece reminds me of the woman who, upon hearing Reagan won the election, exclaimed "Well, I don't see how he won, I don't know anyone who voted for him!"
Books will disappear when we do.
May '10
Re: The Death of the Book and the Future of Reading
"Death of the Book"? It depends on whether you define the "book" the bound paper sheets or the text created by the author. The death of the record did not mean the end of music. Indeed, electronic distribution has made older or obscure musical pieces more available.
At some point it's just a choice of media. I "read" lots of recorded books and actually prefer that experience for some material. As the "print on demand" industry develops, the reader will have a choice of an electronic edition, a print edition or both.