Quote:
Originally Posted by DMB
I note that in various discussions people refer to looking up words when reading. Me, I just read. I find in practice that I sometimes need a dictionary or thesaurus when writing, in order to find the mot juste. And then I am happy with my dt reference books. So I wonder why anyone needs to look up words so frequently as to interrupt their reading to do so and look words up in a dictionary in the reader. Of course, if you are reading in a language not your mother tongue, it's a different matter. There are always going to be words you're not sure of or have never even met. But if it's your own language and you are an adult, why the dictionary?
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English is not my mother-tongue, so maybe I use the dictionary a lot because of that. But I have been in the US for 16 years, gained a BS, and MBA, an MS and a PhD - and I read a lot, for both work and pleasure. Yet, often enough, I don't know the meaning (often, I know it broadly, but not the exact nuance) of some words. I just finished a round of Rushdie's books (read the Enchantress of Florence, Midnight's Children and Shalimar the Clown over the past weeks) and I am not ashamed to say the dictionary came in handy.
And the touchscreen on SONY's is great for it. But you have tu sue the stylus with it, otherwise you risk tapping the wrong word (well, at least I do, with my chubby fingers).
I would venture further and say that having an easy-to-access dictionary is, to me, the biggest advantage of reading on an ebook.