Comments on: Technology Changes Everything, Including How You Read

By: Marcus Barber

Marcus Barber — Mon, 02 Dec 2013 10:39:36 +0000

Delighted that they’re working for you :-) Arguably the two biggest selling factors for me are likely to be storage minimisation and less weight when I’m travelling.
Marcus :-)

By: B.J. Murphy

B.J. Murphy — Sun, 01 Dec 2013 20:35:17 +0000

Hey Marcus,

I definitely hear what you’re saying. And thankfully Kindle devices, among other devices as well, do allow you to take notes on your pages.

Using my Kindle Fire HD as an example, I’m able to highlight a section of whatever page, then include a note as to the highlighted section’s importance. Not only that, if I find a mistake in doing so, I can easily edit said note, or even de-highlight any section I no longer find useful, diminishing any damage done to the book — which isn’t the case for normal books, seeing as how once highlighted or written on, no changing that.

So, again, I find that digital tablets, like the Kindle, are far superior than hardback and paperback books. As a reader, writer, researcher, etc., this digital transition in books is a very useful tool and definitely helps me more than any other kind of book could thus far.

By: Marcus Barber

Marcus Barber — Sun, 01 Dec 2013 10:48:59 +0000

Of course to a larger extent it depends on the type of books you read and the purpose for doing so.

Novels are, by and large, passive and one way — the reader follows along with the quality of their readership based on the quality of the authorship.

But what about books for learning, or those items more geared around prompting some alternative thinking. I often make many notes in my books, writing down thought bubbles as they pop up, noting to go and check out some additional information. My notation style allows me to quickly re-read and entire book in mere minutes, picking up those key factors I’d discovered as being important.

Maybe these electronic versions can do that, maybe not and as a futurist, I’m technology agnostic. I can hand a book over to a colleague or friend. I’m less likely to do that to a Kindle or their alternatives. And saying to some one ‘here, read this’ seems significantly different from saying ‘hey you should go online and buy this book’.

And finally one thing I really like about books — their batteries never seem to run out…

Marcus Barber :-)

By: B.J. Murphy

B.J. Murphy — Sat, 30 Nov 2013 16:37:07 +0000

I like long novels, too. So long it has a good story behind it, well thought-out characters, and a plot that keeps you thinking and questioning throughout the entire time period reading it. :)

By: Walter Hehl

Walter Hehl — Sat, 30 Nov 2013 13:59:43 +0000

How we read is really changing: Gadgetwise, it is visible and well understood. And even hard (wooden) paper fans agree to the advantages.
I think the soft difference how we read is also important: A book is per definition a long rolled-out piece of work and info (if not just a collection). I assume many people prefer shorter pieces to digest — with higher information density and connectivity. Internet, hyperlinks and the Zeitgeist support this.
I heard this is also thought to be a major gender difference (more female readers for long novels :-) )

By: Kevin J. Anderson

Kevin J. Anderson — Fri, 29 Nov 2013 21:51:56 +0000

And let’s not forget the books we used to have around *for information only*. To my annoyance, I keep receiving bulky phone books dropped on my driveway…who looks anything up in a phone BOOK anymore? Or my printed 27-volume World Book Encyclopedia? I can Google search any topic I like and get a plethora of articles, rather than flipping through pages in a volume to get one specific article.

Note, though, that there are plenty of other eReaders out there in addition to Kindles…Kobos, Nooks, Sony eReaders, tablets, smartphones with eReader apps.

By: B.J. Murphy

B.J. Murphy — Fri, 29 Nov 2013 08:14:40 +0000

I wonder how many GBs those tablets run in the Star Trek universe. You’d think it wouldn’t be GBs, or even TBs, but much, much larger, but then there’d be no need of having to operate several different tablets for different operations at one time.

Oh, Picard, how you delude us with such mysterious — albeit shrewd — swagger.

By: Franco Cortese

Franco Cortese — Fri, 29 Nov 2013 07:50:52 +0000

Oh would you just pick one, Picard?!