The SoapVox

Just like Cory, I’ve heard the old “I don’t like reading off a computer screen” over and over, specially when I tell people that 90% of my reading is off a computer or an ipaq (using GowerPoint’s ubook). The first thing I do when I want a book, is search for it in ebook stores. If it’s not there, I’ll buy the paper version…and get the ebook from somewhere so I *can* read it on my computer or my ipaq.

Why do I like reading on the computer and on my ipaq? Well…I’m a weird reader. I read a lot…5-8 books a week…yup, 5 to 8 books every week, since the time I was 11 or so. And…I don’t read serially, that is, I don’t read one book, finish it and move to the next on the list…nop, that’d be the easy way :) I read a chapter of this book, a couple of chapters of that other, one chapter from yet another book…I usually have 3 books going at the same time.

And…I read everywhere. When I say everywhere, I mean it. I read while I’m working (I’m an IT consultant and do most of my work from home), I read while cooking, I read while watching TV, I read while walking to the store, I read while waiting for a client to receive me…if I have 2 minutes, I’ll read. And carrying 3 books around with me at all times…it’s a PITA. I don’t carry a backpack…I carry my ipaq in my pocket and that’s where I take notes and whatever is needed.

I don’t read many paper books anymore…not in the last…4 or 5 years. When I’m at the ‘puter, I have every light turned off, only the monitor’s illumination, and reading on paper with that light is a royal PITA, worse than carrying the damn books when I’m out of my house. Besides, when I’m at the ‘puter, I tend to read a few paragraphs of the book, read a website, check mail, write part of a blog post, read what’s going on in my IRC client, check my RSS feed reader, go back to the book, IM somebody, read another website with research for my current work project and so on and so forth…I multitask, all the time. Doing that, with a paper book, is impossible.

Of course, I *do* have a decent monitor, with good resolution, good font sizes and good font selection, and the ipaq has a good screen, and ubook has good font options that allow for the most comfortable reading possible. Also, I have a script for my webbrowser that kills colors and backgrounds and everything else on a book that I’m trying to read…it turns the webpage into black text over white background, and that’s the way I like it :)

Anyway, the article that provoked this rant about ebook reading is Cory Doctorow: You Do Like Reading Off a Computer Screen. Give it a read, it’s interesting, even if he puts me in the “tiny minority” :)

Technorati Tags: ebook, onscreen reading, cory doctorow

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