Did an ereader help kick start a reading habit

[montsnmags]

Originally Posted by DDHarriman

...
Going back to your first question: still no, the technology is always a mean to objective, no technology is going to help you loose yourself into the content

The problem, as I see it, is an inherent contradiction in this statement. If technology is a means to achieve an objective, and the technology is an ebook device that has let you finally achieve your objective of losing yourself in the content, then logically technology is helping you lose yourself in the content.

- it will help you to loose yourself more, or in a different way, or sooner, or deeper, or… - but the attraction to the content is independent of the technology.

The content cannot be separated from the technology when factoring in the physical process of "reading". You detail this in your itemisation of the technological development of the modern book (bound pages, et cetera). The content doesn't exist without the medium in which to place it and relate to it. To separate it from its medium is to apply a hypothetical idealism (understandable when we are referred to the material representation of "ideas") that might assist in some other rhetorical sphere, but does not stand strong against reading's technical/technological and physical/physiological practicalities.

Exceptions are of course, the technology not existing turns the access impossible, like, if I’m blind and there is no audiobook published I do not have easy access to the story.

If exceptions exist, then the "rule" is broken. While you have specified the "impossible", it is just as applicable to "levels of discomfort". We'd inevitably have to apply subjective value judgements to individual discomfort, which no person is in a position to do other than the person suffering the discomfort. We cannot apply a value as to whether someone has "it" on the basis of our view as to whether the discomfort they feel reading from a particular medium or in certain circumstances is a sufficient degree of discomfort to not exclude them from "it". Exceptions almost always grow.

If manchuia was sufficiently uncomfortable reading pbooks that she/he could not lose himself/herself in the content, we are in no position to determine to any relevant standard (only to an irrelevant subjective standard) whether she/he has "it" based on that unwillingness to bear that discomfort.

There is no "right" way to read - reading is an entirely individual experience (as you yourself relate) and therefore the means by which one does it, the state of mind in which one does it, and the pleasure one extracts from it are just as individual. The only "it" to be had is so personal that objective measurement is impossible.

In the end, manchuia's question is not a request for an answer to an objective problem. It is, both in the way she/he has presented it and explicitly in its content, a question asking for subjective opinion and experience, likely arising out of the curiosity of the individual looking for comparative experience. It's also an excellent question to pose, and an interesting experience you relate, manchuia.

Personally, I'm not like you, manchuia, in that an ereader has not kick started a reading habit. It has probably prompted me to do something I have been meaning to do for some time - read "classics" that are in the public domain but which I would otherwise have seen expense for in pbook form.

Cheers,
Marc

[DDHarriman]

Uau! Outstanding analysis you have made and for sure quite correct too.

I think, the I have put it in a too black/white mood, when we know that everything is just a continuous flow of different levels of grey.

Once more, I must say I agree with almost what you say and I’m just pointing 3 things:

1 - “There is no "right" way to read - reading is an entirely individual experience (as you yourself relate) and therefore the means by which one does it, the state of mind in which one does it, and the pleasure one extracts from it are just as individual. The only "it" to be had is so personal that objective measurement is impossible.”
The “it “ I was trying to talk about is the one that comes from the “individual experience”, and that does conduct into loving the story or not, if that does not happen in a consistent manner, there is no way one can open ones head and insert the books inside it (sorry for the example, it’s just a figure of speech)…

2 - “The content doesn't exist without the medium in which to place it and relate to it.”
Do not agree in the concept that makes it so important, before men begun to write, there where stories told from father to son or from tellers to other people - the medium was the talking word, something with almost no “technology” involved;

3 - “Personally, I'm not like you, manchuia, in that an ereader has not kick started a reading habit. It has probably prompted me to do something I have been meaning to do for some time - read "classics" that are in the public domain but which I would otherwise have seen expense for in pbook form.”
You could have done that a way back - Project Gutenberg exists since 1971 - the content existed in digital format for at least more then 10 years now (Project Gutenberg was slow in the beginning but has come to increase the number of content made available per year in the last years).

Anyway, outstanding good analysis Marc, and I do think we 3 are talking about the same thing.

Best regards,

[montsnmags]

Originally Posted by DDHarriman

...
You could have done that a way back - Project Gutenberg exists since 1971 - the content existed in digital format for at least more then 10 years now (Project Gutenberg was slow in the beginning but has come to increase the number of content made available per year in the last years).

This is true, and I have been aware of its presence and have used it since available. However, as a reading medium, most computer screens would cause me migraine (coincidentally, "migraine" was part of the content of another post that I changed and rewrote to become my post above ). So, it has been wonderful as a reference, but not as a practical reading form for me until eink ereaders became available, at least, not without printing stuff off, which has its own practical considerations.

Anyway, outstanding good analysis Marc, and I do think we 3 are talking about the same thing.

Best regards,

All of my favourite conversations are those where the participants converge in such a manner.

Cheers,
Marc

[basschick]

like others here, i've had a 3 - 5 book a week habit and since i do have to work, run errands, spend time with loved ones and all that good stuff, i don't have time to read more.

[lmarie]

Originally Posted by manchuia

I might of mentioned this in a previous post, but I don't like books. I love the idea of books, but I don't like them in their physical form. Different sizes different weights, different formatting, and the like, all lead to be being unable to really get comfortable with reading books.

I know this seems a bit odd for this forum.

This discomfort with the actual physical nature (not the content) of books has led me to be frustrated with reading. I have (and buy) a small number of books, and I want more, but each time I try to get into reading the actual act of holding, flipping, etc. gets to me. And so I am here.

I actually like the ereaders simply because they are NOT books. They are one page ergonomic machines that extract all the things I like from books and put it into a shell that i could live with on a day to day basis. Now that copy of the Iliad is the same as my copy of The Inmates are Running the Prison. That makes me look forward to reading again.

I was wondering how many people on this board are like me in that respect? I also wonder how many people''s reading habit took a sharp upturn since they bought their reader (doesn't have to be 0 to astronomical, but how many were occasional readers to now constant book worms)?

Amen to your post -- echoes my sentiments *exactly*. I was an avid reader for much of my life, but I think use of the computer to read online led me to read fewer and fewer paper books. But now, with my Gen3 (and ebookwise as backup), I'm totally hooked again -- to the point where one of my daughters said to me the other day, "That thing has been perfect for you." (She's a die-hard paper book fan.) The Gen3 is just SO lightweight and portable -- I throw it in my bag (in the case, of course) and use it everywhere.

[AL1432]

Originally Posted by manchuia

I actually like the ereaders simply because they are NOT books. They are one page ergonomic machines that extract all the things I like from books and put it into a shell that i could live with on a day to day basis. Now that copy of the Iliad is the same as my copy of The Inmates are Running the Prison. That makes me look forward to reading again.

I was wondering how many people on this board are like me in that respect? I also wonder how many people''s reading habit took a sharp upturn since they bought their reader (doesn't have to be 0 to astronomical, but how many were occasional readers to now constant book worms)?

In my case, I've found very much the same to be true. There are so many books I've WANTED to read, yet "just never got to". Well, since I've been reading electronically, I find myself going through book after book. And not easy ones, either. I just finished volume one of Proust's "Lost Time", NOT an easy read, and am now enjoying Tolstoy's War and Peace. And yes...ENJOYING. I didn't intend this as a reality test, but the other day I picked up the physical version of a book I have in ebook format...when I went back to the ebook device, it seemed so much more enjoyable to me. There's something else I think is a factor at least in my case, and that is that with the ebook version, I am not aware of where I am in the book, and I like that fact. I'm more involved just in reading than in seeing if i'm one quarter, or one half, or whatever, through the book, which was a distraction for me in the past.

So to answer your question, for me, a very definite "yes", ebook reading has DEFINITELY increased the amount I read. I've gone from occasional to virtually every night and even times in between. Great inventions! Glad you posted this question, not many would have been so honest.

[Gameboy213]

I was never a reader. Ever. Barely even in school all the way through college.

I am however a gadget freak. I wanted to read but just never started. I bought a Sony 505 hopint it would get me reading more than just my magazine subscriptions. And boy has it! I am reading 2 books a week and have 8 more on my list already. I take it everywhere and find it much more enjoyable than an oddly shaped and cumbersome pbook.

It 100% got me reading. And I love it.

[manchuia]

It's funny you responded to this thread. I have had my Sony 500 for the last few weeks and I was thinking about answering my own question. I felt it might help people to see how the reader actually affected me after knowing where I came from.

Short answer: YES!!!! it got me to start a reading habit!!!!

Before the reader arrived I would be lucky to read through 5 books a year. I mostly read news online and even paper magazines were an issue for me.

Since the reader I have finished one book and have been avidly going through another (Cryptonimicon) that I attempted to read three times in paper form but gave up. I am zipping through it now.

I know that the habit has started because I constantly think about wanting to get back to reading. Before, reading was something I did when I had checked every website, watched every TV Show, cleaned, etc.

Like I said earlier, I liked the idea of reading, but the actual act never worked out for me. Now, I carry my reader around as much as my cell phone. If I think I will have a few moments, I will bring it with me, read a few pages, and then go about my day. I am absolutely loving this!

I am thinking of upgrading to the 505 / Kindle. The reader has definitely earned my "trust" to invest a lot more money in the habit and is currently heading the "gadget of the year" category for me.

Gameboy.. I share your gadgetfreak tendencies by the way, that's how I stumbled across the reader in the first place. It looked like a cool gadget, and I can honestly say that it's lived up to the incredible hype I put on it.

[DMcCunney]

Ebooks didn't kick start a reading habit for me. I already had it. I don't remembr not knowing how to read, and have always read a great deal. It's fun.

What ebooks did do was make it easier for me to read, and easier to get around to reading a vafriety of books. There are a number of books I've always meant to get around to reading, but there are limits to the number of books I can actually buy and have shelf space for. A lot of classic works got bumped aside because other books had a higher priority on available funds and shelf space.

The vast majority of those classic works are in the public domain, and freely available in electronic format. I can stick them on my PDA, and carry a library in my pocket. I've always read a great deal. I read even more now, because I can do it where ever I happen to be, and read whatever I happen to feel like. With 3,500+ books on my PDA, I'll find something that will fit my mood...
______
Dennis

[montsnmags]

Originally Posted by Gameboy213

I was never a reader. Ever. Barely even in school all the way through college.

I am however a gadget freak. I wanted to read but just never started. I bought a Sony 505 hopint it would get me reading more than just my magazine subscriptions. And boy has it! I am reading 2 books a week and have 8 more on my list already. I take it everywhere and find it much more enjoyable than an oddly shaped and cumbersome pbook.

It 100% got me reading. And I love it.

That's excellent, Gameboy! You've fallen over the brink into something fabulous. Enjoy your flight. It never has to stop.

Cheers,
Marc