CHRIS BENNETT has been reading about reading, again.
FOR a few years now there has been quietly raging, behind the scenes almost, a battle between paper, the mundane substance we make from trees or rags, and the innovations of modern technology.
I refer, of course, to the electronic reader, the acceptance and popularity of which has been growing rapidly, especially this year; although much more slowly than the cellphone when it was introduced less than two decades ago.
The latest devices for reading are the redesigned Kindle, made by the American book giant, Amazon.com, and the iPad made by Apple.
The iPad may cost more, but then it is also a computer and can be used to surf the net and do much more.
I am ambivalent about these two formats for reading; one thing I am not ambivalent about is reading. Few people read enough, largely I suspect because of some lurking fears that they might discover things they would rather not know about, like themselves, for instance. As some benighted soul said to me recently, “
I believe anything that encourages people, especially young people to read must be a good thing, and electronic reading is something that I have adapted to easily in the almost-two years I have been reading on the screen of an iPhone. Amazon has recently released a free app, Kindle for the iPhone, and the first book I bought was Elizabeth David’s French Country Cooking. I would like to see other favourite authors of mine, particular those that I re-read year in and year out (ED is one), available, which they will doubtless be.
Amazon last week announced that it has sold more ebooks than hardbacks. Well hardbacks are not cheap, but there will always be people who like to feel the paper (I am one) and who like to keep the book if they have the space, an increasing problem these days.
Another thing about ebooks is that they are not very comfortable for sharing. For young readers this would be a big drawback; in fact it would be a big drawback for most readers, given that handing over your Kindle or iPad for a while is not the warmest of sensations.
I have also made use of Apple’s own iBooks, in the app called iBookstore. It is not, to my mind, as comfortable as Kindle, but it has some neat tricks. Most systems use bookmarks which are a great help: the book you are reading will open where you left off.
My guess is that there will always be a demand for books printed on paper, but I rather imagine that the quality of binding and the paper itself may improve, as the cost of making books becomes higher and higher, and book readers become, essentially, a niche market.
It is early days yet; but what I think will be the winner will be the agility of people’s minds, an agility the scientist tell us will last into old age if exercised by reading.
It is interesting to note that Charles Darwin, in his introduction to The Descent of Man (1871), wrote, “… in the first edition of the Origin of Species I distinctly stated that great weight must be attributed to the inherited effects of use and disuse, with respect both to the body and mind.”
So there you have it. Run and Read.
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