Will The Kindle Get Men to Read More?

[kennyc]

Originally Posted by DustyDisks

Carrying a Kindle or any such device in any pants pocket is a death sentience for that device, sooner or later!

[kennyc]

Originally Posted by patrickt

My first thought was whether or not women read more than men or buy more books than men. My wife bought a lot more shoes than I did but I rarely went out without shoes. Our closet space was 90% hers and 10% his but I never went out naked.

Second, I have always been a reader and the two impediments to reading were having to work for a living and my wife. Once I was single and retired, bingo, I read a lot more.

I do have fond memories of being engrossed in a book and realizing my wife was looming over me. "Aren't you planning on doing anything this weekend?"
"I am doing something. Something I enjoy. I'm reading a book. What did you have in mind?"
"Would you rather go to the mall, shopping?" Yeh, right, but to be honest I'd usually end up sitting on a very uncomfortabe bench in the mall reading my book.

When I get on a plane and check out the other passengers the non-readers seem to be male and female. I think airlines should give these poor people drugs so they can just drift away for the duration of the flight.

The way to solve the population problem is to have public schools teach sex the way they teach reading. By the time kids reached puberty they wouldn't want to do it.

[RDaneel54]

Originally Posted by patrickt

I do have fond memories of being engrossed in a book and realizing my wife was looming over me. "Aren't you planning on doing anything this weekend?"
"I am doing something. Something I enjoy. I'm reading a book. What did you have in mind?"
"Would you rather go to the mall, shopping?" Yeh, right, but to be honest I'd usually end up sitting on a very uncomfortabe bench in the mall reading my book.

Couple comments on reading in public as a guy.

I've gone to the mall and sat on the uncomfortable bench to read. I swear those are made for you to tie your shoes and leave as they are super annoying to sit in and read.

I followed my wife around while she shopped for clothes in a department store. I was reading my Kindle when suddenly a woman asked me if I needed help. I realized I was standing in the middle of the Petite section reading and my wife was nowhere in site. I just did a manly cough and walked away.

The other problem is how much of a magnet a man reading a Kindle is to the ladies. I was reading at a sports bar once and couldn't read much for all the women crowding around me. OK, that's a lie.

But I do read more since I've started using an ereader, substantially more since I got my Kindle.

[fafaforza]

Originally Posted by DustyDisks

Carrying a Kindle or any such device in any pants pocket is a death sentience for that device, sooner or later!

Maybe that's one advantage of metal versus plastic. Never had a problem with my Sony readers, and I've been doing this since 2009 with my 505 and now the 650. A big reason I like the readers is the portability and pocketability. Would hate to need a bag just to carry it around. After all, they're supposed to improve convenience over paperbacks.

[DustyDisks]

Originally Posted by fafaforza

Maybe that's one advantage of metal versus plastic. Never had a problem with my Sony readers, and I've been doing this since 2009 with my 505 and now the 650. A big reason I like the readers is the portability and pocketability. Would hate to need a bag just to carry it around. After all, they're supposed to improve convenience over paperbacks.

Carrying one without a cover is what would worry me, Example I can fit my kindle in my back jean pocket with out a cover, but if I did it would be sudden death for it. For non covered and covered e-readers I think the greatest vulnerability is the screen.

So a steel back would provide rigidity, but no protection for the screen. (Thinking more in line with kindles)

[barkndog]

I'd rather have something like this than carry a (ahem) "messanger bag" (do the x-ray view). That's a manly jacket!

[DustyDisks]

Originally Posted by barkndog

I'd rather have something like this than carry a (ahem) "messanger bag" (do the x-ray view). That's a manly jacket!

Jackets are good for carrying, but sort of overkill/hot in summer.

[Harmon]

If the question is whether the new basic kindle will entice more men to become readers, I think that the answer is no. Very few people who do not grow up reading become readers as adults.

But if the question is whether the portablility of the new basic kindle will entice men who already read to go digital, my answer is: maybe a little bit. But truthfully, I think the lower price point will have a greater impact on the decision.

[carpetmojo]

I think this thread has sexist overtones - why shouldn't we have handbags - or tote bags like the "in" women's bags look like now . I saw one petite femme dragging one around today that would have done for 2 marines in afghanistan.

[HappyMartin]

Originally Posted by barkndog

I'd rather have something like this than carry a (ahem) "messanger bag" (do the x-ray view). That's a manly jacket!

It's only just November, already 35C and you suggest a jacket? I dont think that is going to work out.

[Joy736]

I think the new kindle could certainly get men to read more. Men tend to like gadgets and They will perhaps pick one up to read newspapers and magazines. And once they have one, the might also read a novel.

[patrickt]

I have gotten people to read more but it wasn't a Kindle. I tested all of my employees, all high school graduates, and discovered that almost 25% were functionally illiterate. We had a reading improvement class, voluntary and open to all employees, and everyone who attended improved their reading, improved their attitude, and some became readers.

I've bought books for a few people who didn't read. My adopted nephew didn't, and wouldn't, read but he had a passion for soccer. I bought a book on soccer strategy and for a week he badgered his cousins to help him read and then he started working on it. Six months later he read a Harry Potter novel for fun.

A neighbor bragged about not having read a book since he was in high school but he was concerned about his son not reading. I order The Tracker by Tom Brown and gave it to him. He looked confused, since he didn't read, but when he flipped through, saw the "tracks" he sat down. Later he said he didn't even know books like that existed.

But, the Kindle is a miracle, in my opinion, for readers and getting people reading is a prerequisite.

[HomeInMyShoes]

^Agreed. Getting people to read isn't in the technology. It is about finding what they are interested in. My e-reader has made me read more and I'm a man, but then I read before I had one. Just not quite as voraciously.


On the side topic of backpacks and bags and how to carry your Kindle. I have a TimBuk2 Classic Messenger bag. Medium size. When I found out you could pick out your own colours I had to have one. It works for everything for me. Back and forth to work. Carry the laptop every now and then. Usually it's just papers, lunch and whatever I'm reading (paper book or Kindle). Sometimes it becomes a camera bag as well.

[pagansoul]

I sometimes carry everything in one of these. It's an old Banana Republic (pre GAP buyout) photographer vest. I've also seen them called Sportsman (in my case a sportswoman) vest. Great for my treks at the local flea market.

[ndixon]

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.