Judging A Book By It" s E-cover
3 or 4 years ago I remember saying to a friend of mine, "I'd never read a book on a screen, I like owning books, the feel of them, the smell of them. I like having books on the shelf." I tried reading a few books on my PC screen but after a while the glare of the screen and the unnatural feel of scrolling got the better of me and I gave up. This happened a few times and the more I did it the more it felt like I was working rather than reading for pleasure and so I gave up the practise.
This was before e-books became popular and before the advent of e-ink, but even when that came about I have to admit I was still a sceptic. I didn't want to try it. Even at that stage, before having tried it, I asked the question, "Why do I need an e-book? Normal books are working for me just fine.
When I purchased an iPad and read my first book on it my views changed instantly. The way the ink read on the screen and the way pictures were integrated was not only elegant to look at but also worked exceedingly well together. Colour pictures were crisp and clear and I could adjust the size of the text to my own reading preference. More than that I could bookmark words, make notes and have them referenced in my text and could carry the book anywhere I went. I could also look up words that I didn't know in the dictionary without leaving the page. The iPad travelled with me in my bag and took up less room than the average book. I could even carry around multiple books with ease where I couldn't have with 'real' books.
Purchasing books became trivial - I could read sample content, often as much as a chapter, and I could search for similar content far easier than I could at a bookshop. Everything became very easily accessible. I could pre-order books whcih would download to my device as soon as they were released, it made things easy!
The technology is so good that I have even been lying in bed tired reading and gone to physically turn the page of the iPad having forgotten it was not a real book.
I have used Kindles too which are also fantastic devices - perfect technology to easily get at books and the e-ink technology that they utlise is extremely good. It's readable anywhere and the battery life on a Kindle is simply astonishing - I have heard tell of reading for months without needing to charge it. Brilliant!
Whilst I have not used a nook I am told that they are also brilliant devices.
I think that the future of books will adapt to e-books more and more - there are all manner of clever things one can do with them (links, applications, adding interactivity) and that they may be the future of reading, but it does take a leap of faith to be willing to try one. 5 years ago I wouldn't have dreamed of using an e-book. Now I don't go anywhere without one. I would strongly encourage you to give it a go if you haven't already. You'll probably like it!
This was before e-books became popular and before the advent of e-ink, but even when that came about I have to admit I was still a sceptic. I didn't want to try it. Even at that stage, before having tried it, I asked the question, "Why do I need an e-book? Normal books are working for me just fine.
When I purchased an iPad and read my first book on it my views changed instantly. The way the ink read on the screen and the way pictures were integrated was not only elegant to look at but also worked exceedingly well together. Colour pictures were crisp and clear and I could adjust the size of the text to my own reading preference. More than that I could bookmark words, make notes and have them referenced in my text and could carry the book anywhere I went. I could also look up words that I didn't know in the dictionary without leaving the page. The iPad travelled with me in my bag and took up less room than the average book. I could even carry around multiple books with ease where I couldn't have with 'real' books.
Purchasing books became trivial - I could read sample content, often as much as a chapter, and I could search for similar content far easier than I could at a bookshop. Everything became very easily accessible. I could pre-order books whcih would download to my device as soon as they were released, it made things easy!
The technology is so good that I have even been lying in bed tired reading and gone to physically turn the page of the iPad having forgotten it was not a real book.
I have used Kindles too which are also fantastic devices - perfect technology to easily get at books and the e-ink technology that they utlise is extremely good. It's readable anywhere and the battery life on a Kindle is simply astonishing - I have heard tell of reading for months without needing to charge it. Brilliant!
Whilst I have not used a nook I am told that they are also brilliant devices.
I think that the future of books will adapt to e-books more and more - there are all manner of clever things one can do with them (links, applications, adding interactivity) and that they may be the future of reading, but it does take a leap of faith to be willing to try one. 5 years ago I wouldn't have dreamed of using an e-book. Now I don't go anywhere without one. I would strongly encourage you to give it a go if you haven't already. You'll probably like it!
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