09 February 11
By: Paul
Comments: 4
Tags /
eBooks
Kindle
reading
I'm asking you to do something we're all used to doing now, but which is in fact quite new: read on screen.
There's an interesting piece here which discusses the difference between reading on screen and reading on paper. A more technical discussion can be found here.
By putting in those links, I'm encouraging you to do what the author of the piece in Wired calls horizontal reading. I'm actually suggesting you leave my piece and go elsewhere, perhaps never to return.
It's a risky thing for a writer to do, but even if I didn't put in those links, any writing I do online is at the mercy of a hundred and one potential distractions.
I'm entering this arena in the full knowledge that you may wander off at any moment. But what happens when texts that were written to be printed are read online, or on screen? I'm thinking in particular of eBooks.
My brother, who travels a lot, uses a Kindle. He says that on the one hand, he loves the instant gratification of being able to think of a book, and start reading it a minute later. But on the other hand, he says that when he's read it, he doesn't feel as if he has.
Is it that reading on screen is such a different experience (although we are hardly aware of the difference), that the end result is also quite different? Is it because, as the author of the second piece linked to above says, we are not reading a text on screen, but through a screen? And does this make the experience shallower?
By the way, I want to avoid a value judgement here, so let me say now that shallowness can be a good thing, especially when you're learning to swim. As perhaps we all are right now.
Anyone care to comment about their experience of reading eBooks or on screen generally?
Paul Kitcatt
Chief Creative Officer
Comments
09 February 11
By: Richard
Two-track reading
I love my Kindle.
If I want to read an 'improving' piece of literature, I'll buy it in physical form so people can see what I'm reading.
But if I want to read a book involving spies, guns or zombies (which I do more often) I will buy the Kindle version.
That way I can keep my guilty pleasure entirely covert.
09 February 11
By: Julia
Showing off
As Richard points out, what's the point of reading something worthy or intellectual if no one knows about it?
Perhaps Kindle could offer an optional display panel on the back of the device, for those who like to show off.
09 February 11
By: Angus
3D reading
I don't really buy into the 'shallower' reading argument. Lack of materiality doesn't make video games any less immersive. Stories have been beamed onto cinema screens and through our television sets for decades yet nobody would claim that they hold our attention any less than the theatre.
I think your horizontal reading point suggests the biggest difference between digital and print reading. The proximity of other destinations on digital devices mean that reading has become non linear. I'm always hopping backwards and forwards, sometimes with purpose, and other times tangentially. Even reading an iBook, I'm a tap away from a dictionary, my browser, my E-mail, Twitter and Facebook.
I think that once text that was meant to be printed appears online it stops being flat and lives in a multidimensional world. Every word, phrase, memorable line, thought provoking fact, can whisk you off on an instant journey- to better comprehend, fact check, seek other opinions, or share your own.
When I choose to read on screen I'm choosing this plugged in experience.
10 February 11
By: Mika
Reading is good
Let's get this out of the way first. Reading is good. Period. On screen, paper, papyrus scrolls, vellum, tablets (stone or digital), on tattoos, walls, maps, and road signs.
My son is five and he's just learning to read. The other day, I found him reading a book. On his own. Nobody told him to do so. He was curled up with his book, and completely immersed in it. I watched him for quite a long time. He laughed and giggled, and sometimes frowned his tiny brow. And I have to admit, few tears of joy rolled down my face.
This moment was one of the most important moments of his life. He opened the most important door he is ever going to open. The door to knowledge, door to most amazing stories, characters, doors to great joy and immense sorrow.
Will he be reading paper books for much longer? Probably not.
Does it matter? I do not think it does. And I think I can prove it.
When I was growing up, back in Serbia, we were taught two scripts: cyrillic and latin. For us, it is just a typeface. And they are used equally. About 50% of books are in one, 50% in the other script.
I used to do an experiment with my friends. When we discussed books, I would ask them: "Was it in cyrillic or latin?". And guess what. Nobody new. Sometimes I would rip a book from their hands, close it and ask the same question. They still couldn't tell.
When I read a book, a screen (paper, vellum, papyrus scroll...) just disappears, and the whole new world appears in its place.
As you say Paul, we are learning to swim here. And until we learn, that screen will be there, and will not go away. It just wont dissolve into the story the way paper does. For you and for me, until we are ready for the deep end. But for my son? I am sure it will disappear immediately. As I am sure that when he is my age, and his letters are routinely projected directly to his visual cortex, when he picks a paper book up from his dad's dusty old shelf it will stubbornly stay there and he will wonder how on earth did we ever managed to read them.