For ebook devotees, reading is a whole new experience
David J. Loehr, a playwright who lives in southern Indiana, was taking his car to the dealership when a story on the radio caught his attention. A short science piece about "an obscure subject" gave him an idea for a new play. ,
Ordinarily, Loehr would have had to make do with sketching some notes or trying to remember his inspiration. But since he had his iPad with him, he bought a few books on the subject and downloaded them as soon as he got to the dealership. He started his research for the play right there, while his car was being serviced.
"I can have all that research on a single tablet instead of carrying around 40 books," Loehr said.
Welcome to the future of books, where your entire library is as portable as a cellphone.
A recent study by the Pew Research Center’s Internet and American Life Project reported that ownership of e-reader devices--like the Amazon Kindle, Baknes and Noble Nook, Song Reaer and Kobo e-Reader Touch—doubled between November 2010 and May 2011. Now 12 percent of s over age 18 own one, while 8 percent own a tablet computer like the iPad.
So what does the increasing popularity of these devices mean for the experience of reading Do we read differently when we can get almost any book ever published, whenever we want
Reading the future
For their devotees, ebooks have transformed the experience of reading.
Michelle Jones, who writes the Consuming Louisville blog, has a Kindle reader and also uses the Kindle app on her Android phone. "Even when I’m walking the dog, I’m always going to have my phone on me," she said. "I’m not always going to have my book bag. It makes it possible for me to read at places I never would have before."
For Jones, the fact that her Kindle syncs (同步)with her phone--so her book always knows where she left off--makes reading the same book on different devices effortless.
Jones describes herself as an early adopter. But e-readers also have won over some book lovers who aren’t ordinarily attracted by the device, like Madelyn Anetrella, a nonprofit development manager for the American Lung Association.
"I don’t know how to use my iPod, "she said, by way of establishing her Luddite bona fides. But she does read on a Kindle and on the Kindle app on her phone.
Brian Leung, novelist and professor of English at the University of Louisville, said that having your entire library with you wherever you go was pretty extraordinary. "It’s having all your books in your pocket, and having all your magazine subscriptions in your pocket."
Although Leung has a strong preference for physical books, he has started to think about buying ebook versions of things he’s likely to only read once. He recently read Tina Fey’s memoir (回忆录), Bossy pants, and cited it as an example. "It’s something that I wouldn’t go back to," Leung said.
Being able to purchase an ebook and start reading it right away without leaving the house-or the doctor’s waiting room--also increases the convenience of the impulse buy.
Jen Woods, founder and president of the local small press Typecast Publishing, said she often buys books she’s not sure about in the ebook version for her Nook. "For those books, I find that I purchase a lot more of them because I don’t have to store them anywhere. If it is only a minor interest and I don’t read the whole book, it’s OK."
What’s on your bookshelf
But beyond the gadgets, how has technology improved the reading experience
One of the best things about our digital lives is the ease with which we can share ideas with others. There are an umber of websites and apps that allow readers to share recommendations with their social networks and to find new things to read.
Kiki Petrosino, a poet and assistant professor of English at the University of Louisville, wrote for the Poetry Foundation’s Twitter feed last summer. She said the experience connected her to readers in a way that readings at bookstores or in universities didn’t.
Twitter and Face book are the largest networks for creating online communities, but, neither is specifically designed for readers. Other social networks are structured like giant, international reading groups.
Good reads users can tell their friends about books they’ve read, or that they intend to read. It’s been around for about five years.
Otis Chandler, the founder and CEO of Good reads, said he was inspired by the way he could browse his friends’ bookshelves and ask about what they were reading. "There was no way to do that online," he said.
But Chandler objected when asked if Good reads changed the way we read. "I don’t think Good reads is about changing the actual experience of reading," he said. "I think that what’s changed is how people discover books and share books. "
Long reads is designed to help people find journalism that’s worth taking the time to read--all suggested by other readers. You can browse or search its database of articles by subject, author or publication. You can invite people to look at your recommendations, or browse the lists compiled by people you follow on Twitter.
Another new service for finding good, lengthy nonfiction is called By liner. The site has accumulated a database of more than 20,000 articles over the past year of development, although it just went online recently. As the name suggests, By liner wants to focus attention on writers. It compiles lists of all the articles by a writer, regardless of where they were published.
Once you’ve found your favorite writers at By liner, the site will try to suggest other journalists you might like~-something like movie recommendations on Netflix.
Some things never change
As we spend more time online, and increasingly turn to social networks for reading recommendations, writers and publishers are adjusting to fit the expectations of new media.
Writers have been modifying their work to suit the online marketplace. Rick Moody and John Wray are two novelists who have experimented with Twitter fiction. Paul Griner, a novelist and professor of English at the University of Louisville, said that he tends to write more flash fiction--very short short stories--because they’re easier for online readers to digest.
At the same time, some things won’t change. Reading is still a quiet, solitary engagement between you and the text, whether that text is printed on dead trees or in e-ink on a screen. The experience of getting ed into a great story doesn’t differ, according to e-reader owners.
If anything, the growing popularity of ebooks shows that readers are still willing to pay for good writing, despite the abundant supply of free content available online. In that sense, it’s a reaffirmation of the old publishing business model.
Petrosino doesn’t think the popularity of electronic media would affect the way she writes poetry, either. "Poetry is one of the forms that defies the short attention span. Poetry is a way of paying attention."
And although ebooks continue to increase their share of the market, readers will still buy physical books.
"I think I’m 50-50 with reading actual books and reading on my Kindle," said Anetrella of the American Lung Association. "If I’m at a bookstore and I see a book that I want, I’ll buy it.\
For ebook devotees, reading is a whole new experienceReading the futureWhat’s on your bookshelfSome things never changeOtis Chandler believes that Good reads has altered