My favorite times for E: Babysitting, the subway and snowy and rainy Canadian days
By Ficbot
Are e-books are killing the print book as we know it? “True/False†or “Either/Or†won’t do here. No binary split, please! As I’ve said before, E and P can coexist.
Print is my choice for gift-giving, the reading of beloved keepsake favorites, foreign-language titles not available in e-versions, and specialty genres like cookbooks where I prefer to see the whole page at once.
What are some cases, though, where I might favor E? Below is my list, and I’d welcome hearing from other TeleBlog readers.
Putting a toddler to bed
I babysit for extra income and often find myself in this situation. The story has been read, the toddler is tucked in and drowsing, but I can’t leave the room until he’s completely sleeping or else the noise of my doing so will wake him up again.
At such times, where noise is perhaps an issue, but proper lighting is definitely a problem, my backlit eBookwise, which can be read legibly and without eyestrain even in total darkness, is a godsend. I can tuck in beside the baby, finish my chapter and hang tight until he’s out completely. My eBookwise an essential in my babysitting bag.
The subway
You’re on the subway, it’s rush hour, and the only thing standing between you and a faceplant into the nearest fellow commuter is a tiny strip of pole which you must sacrifice one of your hands to cling to. Even if you could manage a newspaper with one hand, there simply is not a big enough personal space bubble to allow you to turn the pages. A PDA, cell phone or e-book reader that you can hold in one hand is a wonderful thing.
My eBookwise is ergonomically designed such that the button which turns the pages is large and prominent and positioned in just the right spot to smack with a finger if you are holding it with one hand. Another scenario of modern-day life solved by the technology of modern-day life.
The snowy or rainy Canadian day
Finally, one of my other favorite times for E—the snowy or rainy day. Where I live, this happens often. We joke here that there are only three seasons: almost winter, winter, and July! You’re bored, you have nothing to read, and it’s too hideous to brave a walk to the bookstore or library.
So how about downloading (for free!) one of the 20,000 beloved classics available at Project Gutenberg? Or the thousands of others available at its sister sites? Or a Creative Commons-licensed novel or short story from Manybooks.net? Or some classic pulp fiction that is now in the public domain?
Even the most basic PDA can handle this sort of e-book activity, and if you have better gadgets (or even a bare-bones computer with half-decent software) you can download free e-books from Librivox, or titles from your local library if it subscribes to such a service, or any number of affordable modern bestsellers from Fictionwise, Books for a Buck or other such vendors.
If you have a dedicated e-book reader like the Kindle or my eBookwise, you can buy from their stores as well, although in these cases you may be dealing with some restrictive DRM schemes. But if you are not a classics person and simply must have the latest Stephen King, you can have it—without ever leaving your house. What are your favorite ‘I prefer the e’ scenarios? As I’ve said, I’d love to see some comments from other e-book fans.
Technorati Tags: recreational reading,Canada,Canadian,Toronto
March 23rd, 2008 at 9:01 am
Hi Ficbot,
Thanks for the mention. As someone who uses mass transportation often, I’ll absolutely agree with you on the subway story. An eBook reader is much better for reading while standing and holding a pole than trying to balance and quickly turning pages.
One thing paper books are better for is for book signings (signing a CD-ROM isn’t the same thing). Of course, that goes into the books as decoration category.
Rob Preece
Publisher, http://www.BooksForABuck.com
March 23rd, 2008 at 10:17 am
Ficbot’s essay serves up still more arguments for publishers offering E as a bonus to people who buy P. That may or may not been on her mind. But that’s what she’s doing. Nice job, Ficbot! And, Rob, you’re absolutely right about P for book signings–unless… Hey, I’m gonna make that a posting. Stay tuned. Thanks. David
March 23rd, 2008 at 3:25 pm
One of the things I like about ebooks is the “quick-draw” factor — I can read a page or two while waiting for the elevator, or when I’m standing in line at the supermarket, since the text is only as far away as my cellphone.
And I’ll admit that having a good ebook to read can really take the edge off a boring presentation or conference call, too