I read my Cybook in public all the time and I get a lot of questions. Some have heard of the concept of an ebook reader, some have seen them, many are curious anyway. I have my spiel down pat.
A conversation I had with a young man (college age, I guess) sitting next to me on the train last week:
Him: Is that a Kindle?
Me: It's an ebook reader, but not a Kindle. It has the same screen, it works pretty much the same way, but it doesn't have wireless download.
Him (nods knowingly): Oh, it's a cheap knockoff.
Me: NOT cheap. NOT a knockoff. Just a different device for the same function.
Him: *loses interest*
Sigh.
But as Bob said, flight attendants almost always ask about it. I think some of them are considering buying an ebook reader--they're so convenient for travel.