Why the Smart Reading Device of the Future May Be … Paper

[Valin]

Wired

Brandon Keim

05.01.14

 

Paper books were supposed to be dead by now. For years, information theorists, marketers, and early adopters have told us their demise was imminent. Ikea even redesigned a bookshelf to hold something other than books. Yet in a world of screen ubiquity, many people still prefer to do their serious reading on paper.

 

Count me among them. When I need to read deeplywhen I want to lose myself in a story or an intellectual journey, when focus and comprehension are paramountI still turn to paper. Something just feels fundamentally richer about reading on it. And researchers are starting to think theres something to this feeling.

 

(Snip)

 

Maybe its time to start thinking of paper and screens another way: not as an old technology and its inevitable replacement, but as different and complementary interfaces, each stimulating particular modes of thinking. Maybe paper is a technology uniquely suited for imbibing novels and essays and complex narratives, just as screens are for browsing and scanning.

 

Reading is human-technology interaction, says literacy professor Anne Mangen of Norways University of Stavenger. Perhaps the tactility and physical permanence of paper yields a different cognitive and emotional experience. This is especially true, she says, for reading that cant be done in snippets, scanning here and there, but requires sustained attention.

 

(Snip)

[clearvision]

Well, I must say using a kindle paper-white quickly converted me. Computer-no, iPad-no but the weight of the paper-white, the ability to read outside and ability to read in bed without needed a light are awesome. Have not read a paper book since getting it a year ago and normally read a book a week at least.

[cudjo]

I read 2 or 3 books a week and keep thinking I'm going to try a kindle in hopes that I can change the text size as I still have trouble with small print or light print.

[clearvision]

I read 2 or 3 books a week and keep thinking I'm going to try a kindle in hopes that I can change the text size as I still have trouble with small print or light print.

 

Definitely go with the Paper White, not a regular screen. Battery charge lasts a week, super easy to read. On all of them you can change font style, size, line spacing and brightness.

[Valin]

 

I read 2 or 3 books a week and keep thinking I'm going to try a kindle in hopes that I can change the text size as I still have trouble with small print or light print.

Definitely go with the Paper White, not a regular screen. Battery charge lasts a week, super easy to read. On all of them you can change font style, size, line spacing and brightness.

 

As I understand it if you go with Kindle you are locked into Amazon, and cannot use other downloads.

[clearvision]

 

 

I read 2 or 3 books a week and keep thinking I'm going to try a kindle in hopes that I can change the text size as I still have trouble with small print or light print.

Definitely go with the Paper White, not a regular screen. Battery charge lasts a week, super easy to read. On all of them you can change font style, size, line spacing and brightness.

 

As I understand it if you go with Kindle you are locked into Amazon, and cannot use other downloads.

 

 

I'm not so sure about that Valin.

 

http://freebies.about.com/od/onlinebooks/tp/free-kindle-books.htm