Quote:
Originally Posted by Quexos
I'll never know whether the Kindle will get me to read more but I can say that the Sony reader got me to read a little more  |
The Sony 505 got me reading more, because I could have dozens of books within easy reach and without cluttering up the house. All those classic out-of-copyright works whose print editions I would have had to pay £6.99 for or rummage round charity shops to find, I could get from Project Gutenberg instead.
In the first month I read six books and was in the middle of another seven; then the 505 screen died.
Now after a bibliographic dry spell I've got a Kindle 4, so I'll probably be reading as much as I was before.
That said,
I've always been a keen reader. As an adult and a parent real life gets in the way, but the intent is still there.
I don't think the Kindle (or e-readers in general) will increase reading by
men in particular - I accept that men seem to be less inclined to read than women, but I don't think they'll suddenly start reading just because it's a gadget - rather I think that e-readers create more
opportunities to read (in situations where you wouldn't carry books with you) for both men
and women; there's not necessarily a split along gender lines, and the desire to read has to be there in the first place.
People who are
not very interested in reading still won't change their habits significantly now that e-readers are available. You only have to peruse Ebay and similar sites to see the number of people who bought (or had bought for them) a Kindle or a Sony because it seemed like a neat gadget, but subsequently "never use it".
As @patrickt has pointed out, first people have to discover the pleasure of reading, and sometimes it takes a real book to do that.