ebooks, eReading
January 30, 2009. The Experience of eReading
I’ve created this blog, eReading, now a Category on The Globe, to reflect on the qualitative nature of reading on digital devices. This is something I’ve thought about for nearly a decade. I want to record my thoughts and chat with people who might similarly be interested in serious literary books, and what it’s like to read them digitally, if you will.
I’d be happy to hear from people and eReading aficionados, on all types of devices, e.g., Sony Reader, Kindle, Palm, Phones, etc.
I’ve read and *experienced* reading etext from various sources and in numerous formats for books, from Gutenberg.org, Archive.org, Google, and so forth.
Again, “eReading,” for me, is about the *experience* of reading on electronic devices. Is the quality of the experience the same, different, richly imaginative and fulfilling, informative, as with a traditional book?
What do you like or prefer about eReading? Dislikes, difficulties? If the hardware is interfering in your reading, how would you like the devices improved?
Provocations:
Does eReading complement and augment the traditional book and library or replace them? What of the Luddite mentality that seems to be working against the acceptance and inclusion of eReading into the realm of legitimate ways of reading? Is that a tiresome question? Have things not moved already beyond that debate? It seems to me that eReading makes some very significant improvements on the experience of reading…. Form follows content, content follows form? I would agrue for a new synergy.
Several months ago I created a discussion group on LibraryThing, but no one there seemed interested in discussing the *experience* of reading, but rather the gadgets, which is fine to a degree but doesn’t really touch on, as I’ve tried to convey, what I’m actually trying to probe and understand more.
All points of view are invited: eReading
