Unfolding an ebook

The July 6, New York Times profiles an device with flexible e-pages:

[T]he Readius, designed mainly for reading books, magazines, newspapers and mail, is the size of a standard cellphone. Flip it open, though, and a screen tucked within the housing opens to a 5-inch diagonal display. The screen looks just like a liquid crystal display, but can bend so flexibly that it can wrap around a finger.

New York Times, July 6, 2008

E-book Reader Matrix

Scroll down this Wikipedia entry to see a handy dandy chart (complete with pictures, prices and company reliability) of all the available E-book Readers.

Lynne

Judging an E-Book by Its Cover

A book by any other name (for instance, an "e-book") might not smell as sweet, but it might be a joy to read.

What makes a book lovable? Some insist a book is defined by its sensory qualities: the texture of its pages; the smell of its binding; the colors of its cover. These people would argue that a book is like a good meal, that presentation is all-important. The red of bell pepper and the green of cilantro against an oversized white plate complement the entrée. For them, that makes the meal delicious!

But does it? What is on that plate anyway?

Beauty is as beauty does. At least that's what my mother told me. And I've been thinking a lot lately about what makes a book beautiful. Is it presentation, or content, or both? Given a badly written book presented on a beautiful reading instrument, or a book whose prose soared served on a clunky reading device, which would you choose? Of course, your answer depends on personal judgment. And I've offered a lot of room for judgment here. For some, the e-book format is more aesthetically pleasing than the paper version. (Yes, really!) And for others, the prose that might soar for me, plunges into heavy yawns for them.

So what really does matter? C.S. Lewis said, "We read to know we are not alone." When I read something I really love, I transcend the physicality of the device I happen to be reading and join the author's sensory world. I don't smell the binding of the book, I smell the coffee the author skillfully brings to aromatic life. I feel the heat of the fictional sun on my skin, not the texture of the page. I see that well-described green of the African veldt, not the cover of the book. And I know I'm not alone. I'm with the author.

I'd bet some of the original bards objected heartily, maybe even musically, to written books. And there had to be people who found typeset works distasteful compared to the carefully hand-inscribed manuscripts.

As for me, I'll read anything that tells a good story, even a stone tablet.

Jaki

Devices and Desires - Techno-Lust

This article is about ebook readers, but I should start by saying I’m one of those Baby Boomers whose idea of a Palm Pilot is writing “Buy paper towels” on the back of my hand. Innovations and inventions fall into two categories for me. First are the ones that you can’t understand until they are demonstrated to you. Then there are the ones that you want before they ever exist.

I’m old enough to remember laughing at all the people lining up on the sidewalk to use the autoteller machines to get cash. What was THAT about? Why stay outside the bank? What if it rained? Once I tried the ATM however, it didn’t take long for me to realize the advantages: cash or deposits, 24/7 with a simple line on the pavement in front of the ATM. I was able to do without the human bank teller, they were always a little sniffy about my bank balance or lack thereof anyway!

On the other hand, I began to lust for the information superhighway before it was open to the general public. When I first started writing free-lance articles, I put together a piece called “A to Z on Where to Take the Kids in San Francisco.” I used library sources and some telephone research. Then I met a guy at a party who worked at a local television station. He said he could use their database and get in a few minutes what had taken me nearly two weeks of “sneaker research.”

The minute I heard about that instant information I wanted it. I had a bad case of database envy. My plight lasted until the Internet came along nearly 15 years later. After putting in some time getting acquainted, I fell deeply in love with the internet. Right now I’m still in the early phases of infatuation with e-books on an external reader.

I’ve already read e-books downloaded onto my computer as Adobe files or as text files from Project Gutenberg. I’ve enjoyed the immediacy of having the book within a few minutes. The last time I had that kind of instant gratification with books was when I lived on Clement Street in the days when there were five bookstores and a very good branch library within easy walking distance. Alas, only one of those bookstores remains and neither it nor the library are an easy walk for me from where I live now.

The search feature in both the Adobe and text e-books is quite useful. If I need to know, for example, where to find a scene in a tomb in Dracula, all I have to do is search and I can choose among tombs.

I haven’t been able to justify the expense of an external e-book reader yet, but I’m sure I’ll come up with some excuse fairly soon! I remember a 12-hour long airplane trip where I brought two books, one short and the other quite long, to keep me occupied. I finished the short book in a few hours and I discovered a few chapters into the second one that I loathed it.

When I heard that e-book reader devices could hold up to 200 books, I was entranced at the prospect. That many books could take you through the flight, the return flight and however many delays or cancelled flights an airline could throw at you.

At this point, it’s not a matter of whether I will get an external reader for e-books, it’s a matter of which one and when!

Lynne