Thoughts on E-Reading

I have about six months with my Kindle at this point. Like anything, there is good and bad. I planned to use it primarily for light reading but have been lured in by super-low prices on a few academic titles. I thought it would be worth giving it a try with the longer works, to see how well it worked. So I purchased a few of them (usually $30 and upwards harcovers in print but $8 or less on Kindle). The longer books are proving to be a real challenge, even after adopting Douglas Wison's advice to read like someone who can afford to forget.

I am noticeably struggling with remembering what I have read. I consider myself a spatial learner.  I have always connected details about a page in my memory which has helped me recall it later (even if only a vague wisp of a memory). At least I realize now that I'm not alone in my learning/memory style, after reading the article do e-books impair memory? I think the development of e-readers will continue and will begin to tap into landmarks that will function similar to printed works.

Is it truly surprising that a technology (printing/publishing) which has been refined for hundreds of years has a few important things figured out that a fledgling technology has overlooked right out of the gate? Not really surprising at all. Even so, I would encourage you to consider an e-reader.  Here are some thoughts to consider.

Reading with them new fangled whatchamajiggers

I had been considering getting an e-reader for a few months. I kept struggling with my love for paper, highlighters, and the mobility a book offers. This set me to thinking about how I might use an e-reader. Should I approach it as a general replacement for my library? Should I use it for a subset of my reading? What kind of functions should I look for? Is this another piece of technology that will absorb my time and energy on the tool itself, distracting me from the discipline of reading?

An e-reader must be simple. This decision led me away from all of the android palmtop computing devices. Computers have whittled my life away one CPU clock-cycle at a time. The last thing I need is another sparkly 'efficient computer' to efficiently kill my soul with distraction and gee whiziness.

An e-reader must come from a solid vendor. This decision steered me away from bargain basement readers which will prove to have no legs and even fewer titles. In my eyes, we're only talking about two possibilities at this point.  Amazon' s Kindle and Barnes & Noble's Nook. In general I think Amazon has the stronger business model and financial position.  Even so, there are no guarantees that your technology purchase of today will be viable 10 years from now, which leads to the next point.

An e-reader is not a wholesale replacement for printed books. Especially academic publications which continue to be referenced and useful for decades. Both the volatility of electronic media and the need to reference several works simultaneously render the e-reader an incomplete replacement for the printed book.

Based on these decisions, I purchased a bottom-end kindle and several non-academic titles, as well as dirt-cheap (but valuable as diamond-encrusted gold bars) puritan works. It has proven to be a transparent, convenient, usable and non-distracting tool which gives easy access to works that will feed my soul and shape me for years to come. I've also purchased a couple longer academic works to try test the waters, wading into entended treatments of Biblical Theology. In light of the realistic encouragement to be found in another recent post, I'm no longer stressed out to remember everything, to highlight every word, or to read every book ever published.  In retrospect, the touch-based model might have been a better choice, but either would prove serviceable. I don't pretend that I've figured all of the assumptions or impacts out, but am thankful for the tool and recommend it for your consideration.