SOME QUESTIONS AND MUSINGS ON eBOOK READERS BY A SCEPTIC

Introduction:  

I have asked a number of my friends if they would give me their thoughts on eReaders and associated matters. Here is the first of them, in what I hope will be an occasional series of postings.  I shall be interested to hear your reactions to Jolyon's musings. 

My immediate reactions I shall place in the comments form below.

THE MUSINGS OF JOLYON HAVINDEN.

Over the past few months, I have become increasingly aware of the phenomenon  of "electronic books".  Thus far, my knowledge of this subject is patchy in the extreme, consisting mostly of snippets read in newspapers or heard on the radio.  I have to admit that my initial reaction has been skeptical for many reasons, although I am open to persuasion.

I grew up in a house full of books, of all sorts: reference, art books, literature and the classics, poetry, history, school books and so on......

Throughout my life books have been a constant, I have shelves of them all over the house, there are boxes of books over in the barn which I have read and am unlikely to read again, or are not immediately relevant but I cannot bear the notion of getting rid of them.  There is a teetering pile of books beside and underneath my bed, waiting their turn to be read;  as I finish one I turn to this heap to see which one takes my fancy as the next bedtime read.

There is the entire wall of reference books in the dining room, to which the whole family turns when looking for a recipe, trying to complete the Polymath crossword, settle some argument about an obscure historical event, or sometimes just for opening an atlas and daydreaming about some far-off destination to visit one day.

Every fortnight the mobile library calls, and I browse those shelves too, and fill my bag with titles that look interesting or informative.  I hardly dare visit a bookshop in the town - I can't afford it, I have calculated it costs me about 1 British Pound a minute at least!

All these books seem to have a life and substance which is more than just the sum of the ideas and knowledge contained within them.   They have a smell, a feel to them which is impossible to describe to others, but I know that I am not alone in this feeling.

Imagine therefore, the news of an electronic gizmo displaying books in an allegedly readable form has thrown me into some confusion.  The idea that one relatively compact device can carry, for instance, all your holiday reading, and more, is intriguing.   It sounds like the answer to so many prayers, you could be armed with a selection of bedside books, an atlas, a learned treatise on the geology or flora and fauna of the destination, and the addition of the Rough Guide for finding the evening's restaurant of choice.

Then the questions start, and the doubts creep in - what if I drop it in the bath? - what if I lose it, that's  a  whole holiday's reading and information down the tubes? - are all the titles I would want available to load into it? - how does one access all the available writing? - how much space is there on it anyway? - are there only selected titles available?

Then back home, how exactly would this device fit into my pattern of usage of books?   When researching something for work, or just, or just doing the crossword, I am given to having half a dozen books open around me, so that I can refer to them as required.   How would that work with an electronic reader?   Surely propped up in bed at night, it wouldn't feel like a proper book?

These and other questions have floated through my consciousness of late, usually prompted by something I have read or heard, and thus far remain mostly unanswered.   I will no doubt have to begin to address them;  I am not averse to gadgets and technology per se,  but I think it takes me a little while to get used to the idea of things, and then once converted, I am an eager convert.   However, I do have one admission to make, I do not generally like to read things from a screen, and will print out a long email so that I can read it "properly, on paper".

The other killer question is this; when I  visit other people's homes, I do look at their bookshelves, I note mutual interests and enthusiasms, I can discuss things and compare notes with them on the basis of what I see on their shelves - if all I can see is a shiny piece of electronic wizardry, surely these people will remain, well a "closed book" to me?

Oh dear, there's nothing else for it, I am going to have to find out more about these infernal things, and see if my questions can be answered..............