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neilmarr · 10-12-2009, 07:39 AM

The next time I read some smug newspaper columnist, show-off blogger, reading/writing forum correspondent, friend, neighbour or relative tell me "but you can't read an ebook in the bath", I swear I will draw back my first and smack him in the nose (even if the him is a her). It's as lame an excuse to knock this huge step forward as once claiming that cinema will never replace the seaside Punch and Judy tent.

I will respond similarly fistwise to those who say that you cannot curl up in an armchair/bed/beach lounger/tent/haystack with an ebook. I will also physically assault those who tell me that their treebooks are to be 'treasured' .. books should not be considered ornaments; they are mere delivery devices for literature, for kissake! What's important; the gift or the wrapping paper?

Since the Kindle launched internationally last week, these hackneyed cliches are cropping up daily yet again. Nothing new, just the old 'ebook in the bath/bed/beach/etc' stuff again. Is there not a new objection that (excuse me) actually holds water?

By the way; ever drop a tree book in te bath?

For ten years, I've been promoting the very idea of ebooks left and right in every way possible ... including publshing nearly 150 titles in ebooks and giving many away free of charge, just to introduce people the to experience.

Since I got an e-reader (something I'd been dreaming of since the last century), I've tried even harder to explain the advantages of ebook reading ... until I'm blue in the face. The ereader has one very, very simple thing going for it: It's as far superior to the treebook as the codex is to the scroll or carved tablet of clay or stone. Fin.

I now, officially, give up. None are so blind as those who refuse to see, and I'm sick to the back teeth of trying to open the eyes of the naysayers. The only thing that brightens the horizon is the fact that these folks will have to eat as many words as those who once said the motor car would never replace the horse, that the paperback was doomed to failure, that the earth is most certainly flat, and there ain't no possibility of talking pictures because the film and the phonograph can never be properly synchronised. And who wants to hear pictures talk anyway? That's not the point of pictures.

And they laughed at Marconi ... not because he invented radio (he didn't) but because he believed -- and later proved -- that you could put it into a convenient box that anyone could use to listen to the music, the plays and the conversations it broadcasts.

Maybe this post is better suited to the 'rant and rave' section, but I thought I'd risk it here to ask a simple question ...

What are the objections to ebooks and ebook readers (adinfinauseam) that drive you nuts because they spout from prejudice rather than hands-on experience?

Hoots. Neil (Sorry; but they do say, too, that converts are the most passionate)

10-12-2009, 07:39 AM	#1
neilmarr neilmarr Posts: 7,215 Karma: 6000059 Join Date: Apr 2009 Location: Monaco-Menton, France Device: sony	But You Can't Read an Ebook in the Bath The next time I read some smug newspaper columnist, show-off blogger, reading/writing forum correspondent, friend, neighbour or relative tell me "but you can't read an ebook in the bath", I swear I will draw back my first and smack him in the nose (even if the him is a her). It's as lame an excuse to knock this huge step forward as once claiming that cinema will never replace the seaside Punch and Judy tent. I will respond similarly fistwise to those who say that you cannot curl up in an armchair/bed/beach lounger/tent/haystack with an ebook. I will also physically assault those who tell me that their treebooks are to be 'treasured' .. books should not be considered ornaments; they are mere delivery devices for literature, for kissake! What's important; the gift or the wrapping paper? Since the Kindle launched internationally last week, these hackneyed cliches are cropping up daily yet again. Nothing new, just the old 'ebook in the bath/bed/beach/etc' stuff again. Is there not a new objection that (excuse me) actually holds water? By the way; ever drop a tree book in te bath? For ten years, I've been promoting the very idea of ebooks left and right in every way possible ... including publshing nearly 150 titles in ebooks and giving many away free of charge, just to introduce people the to experience. Since I got an e-reader (something I'd been dreaming of since the last century), I've tried even harder to explain the advantages of ebook reading ... until I'm blue in the face. The ereader has one very, very simple thing going for it: It's as far superior to the treebook as the codex is to the scroll or carved tablet of clay or stone. Fin. I now, officially, give up. None are so blind as those who refuse to see, and I'm sick to the back teeth of trying to open the eyes of the naysayers. The only thing that brightens the horizon is the fact that these folks will have to eat as many words as those who once said the motor car would never replace the horse, that the paperback was doomed to failure, that the earth is most certainly flat, and there ain't no possibility of talking pictures because the film and the phonograph can never be properly synchronised. And who wants to hear pictures talk anyway? That's not the point of pictures. And they laughed at Marconi ... not because he invented radio (he didn't) but because he believed -- and later proved -- that you could put it into a convenient box that anyone could use to listen to the music, the plays and the conversations it broadcasts. Maybe this post is better suited to the 'rant and rave' section, but I thought I'd risk it here to ask a simple question ... What are the objections to ebooks and ebook readers (adinfinauseam) that drive you nuts because they spout from prejudice rather than hands-on experience? Hoots. Neil (Sorry; but they do say, too, that converts are the most passionate)