Quote:
Originally Posted by arjaybe
Barry did say that he's finding that he enjoys the story more when it goes more quickly. That sounds like a good reason to 'analyze.'
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For him, sure. That''s why I mentioned I wasn't looking to invalidate the discussion. Just offering an observance. And that observance is that ebooks in general have seemed to spawn an (over)abundance of meta-reading scrutiny.
I've got shelves full of books that are wildly disparate in their typography, margins, characters per line, font-faces, and font sizes; yet in my years of discussing reading online pre-ebook/pre-ereader explosion. I can't remember any similar discussions (among readers of fiction) concerning these issues.
I've no doubt that Barry would prefer to read faster, for longer periods of time. But I can't help but think the concentration on the more meta aspects of the reading experience in general is, at least in part, the cause of his issue. Not the specifics. The extraneous details are in the back of his mind while reading. "Do I like reading this way? Are these margins narrower than the last book I read (or the last device I was reading it on)? Do I like this font better than the other one?"
My ability to read quicker for longer periods of time is probably more than 90% mind-set and environment these days. As I age, immersion becomes harder for me. I have to
make it happen. The outside world becomes harder for me to filter out, and it becomes harder for me to stay awake in a comfy reading chair. Early morning when it's quiet, when I'm fresh, before my brain gets stuffed with the day's nonsense, is when I need to do my heavy-reading now. Evening or night is rarely more than reading in short spurts and dropping my device when I fall asleep.
I've no doubt that characters per line plays a part, but I think that many times, we let studies about typography, characters, fonts, and screen-technology blind us to the fact that sometimes our reading habits just change--that WE just change. Striving to find the perfect reading device that presents the text in the perfect manner, on the perfect screen is an exercise in futility that can be detrimental to enjoying a good book in and of itself, in my opinion.
Dang. That was long!
