E-Book Implications |
by Catherine Larson |
I'm not sure if I'm ready for the revolution. Here are just a few implications this WSJ piece points out:
- exacerbating our already short attention spans
- more book buying, less book finishing
- chatter in my novel?
(Image © Geoffrey A. Fowler for the Wall Street Journal)
Actually my attention span doesn't seem too different one way or another. Arguably my attention span is greater.
While I do buy more books, I don't finish less often. Actually I finish more often simply because I can have a book I haven't read for a long time close by rather then buried in a box, and there is less need to be huried by mere material concerns like the space a book ocupies.
The books I buy don't have chatter in them.
The Kindle was a great invention and well worth the time. One disadvantage is that it is not handsome, but most books published aren't either and collector's libraries will remain. Another is that the means of carrying it are not user friendly. That can be solved with a bit of ingenuity; I simply combined the case they gave with a Bible pouch and wear it on my belt(the case they gave can't be zipped shut, the Bible pouch has no belthook). That still leaves the problem that it is difficult to unsheath and I would really like them to issue a holster-like device.
Posted by: Jason Taylor | April 29, 2009 at 02:36 PM
Please tell me you're joking about the Kindle-Bible holster. It sounds worse than a fanny-pack!
Posted by: Catherine Larson | April 29, 2009 at 04:00 PM
Sometimes you gotta whip out your "Decline and Fall of the Roman Empire" and . . . um . . . blow the other guy away with it?
Posted by: Gina Dalfonzo | April 29, 2009 at 04:22 PM
Wow. Nerd evangelism. :)
Posted by: Andy | April 29, 2009 at 04:22 PM
Not at all Catherine. You just skip a belt loop so you can have the extra space. Then you slip the belt through with the strap on the outside(now that I remember it's the pouch that has the belthook and the kindle "case" has a strap to hook the belthook on to). so that the thing will fill be on the inside of the belt and fit snuggly instead of dangling. It doesn't look bad and can be covered up with an untucked sweater in any case. The whole arrangement looks like a small rectangular case. It's chief problem is that it is hard to undue, though I sometimes solve that by tieing a shoelace to the kindle and leaving the upper part of the pouch unzipped.
Posted by: Jason Taylor | April 29, 2009 at 05:46 PM