|
I have been an avid ebook reader for many years, especially on early PDAs. I read about 2-3 books a week typically of light to medium fiction (say from Stross to DeLillo). I can no longer get the speed using paper-based books nor can I multitask reading as I'd like with tree-flesh tech. While the Sony is not perfect--the lag in turning pages for me is significant--it still reaches the "immersive" level that I could reach using the PDAs.
I live in a rural area and we have no comprehensive bookstores nearby. Our libraries meet ordinary needs, I suppose, but not for some of us compulsive readers. Nor for us whose eyesight is failing.
And as many of you have pointed out, the Sony bookstore is wholly inadequate both numerically and qualitatively.
Of course I feel a breath of guilt down my spine as I read books that originated from #bookz on Undernet, but I have made some partial amends by donating a few specialized multiple book-length publications of mine into the public domain.
I've got about 260 books on my 505 now, mostly classic belle lettres, what is basically the union of "best 100" lists and university reading lists, and genre pockets such as SF and postmodernism. The only saving grace of my reading mania is that as I age I am beginning to forget enough details so I can reread books profitably.
Besides the 505, I am beginning to listen to books as well. Some books profit immensely by a good reader, take Ulysses by James Joyce. Many of his puns and allusions are by sound and often in one of several foreign languages such as French, Latin, or Greek. An expert speaker can evoke connections that my inner mispronouncing subvocalization completely missed. Beyond the pronunciation, books-on-flash-memory mean that I can listen with my eyes closed which is great for long airplane flights or at night in bed.
|