This month has seen my unwitting introduction to something I’ve been resisting for some time: reading on an iPad.
It first happened like this: I was running out the door to head into Manhattan. From where I live in Brooklyn, it’s about a 20-30 commute, depending on how far uptown you’re going and whether it’s peak train service or not. Perfect reading time.
The book I’m reading at the moment, Keith Richards’ ‘Life,’ happens to be a magnum opus- at about 550 pages in hardcover, it’s the size of a large thesaurus. As I tried to cram it in my bag, I realized there was no room. With everything else I had in there- magazines, headphones and other assorted items including the iPad- it just wouldn’t fit.
I pondered my two choices: upgrade to a bigger bag or just not read my book at all. But I didn’t want to carry a bigger bag. And I really wanted to read this book on the train. I’m completely hooked (I’m not the biggest reader of co-written autobiographies, but Keith’s is spectacular).
Then I remembered something- I had a third choice: purchase ‘Life’ digitally and read it on the train with the iPad. Duh! So before running out the door, I went quickly on-line and downloaded my very first e-book (or, as it’s labeled by Apple: ‘iBook’). ‘Life’ became my guinea pig for my first experiment with e-reading.
And the verdict is: I approve. Well, sort of. I’m not 100% converted. But I do feel partially on board.
Here’s what I like about iPad reading: on the train, it felt great. My new iPad (a current generation iPad2) was light and easy to hold. The best part is the dictionary. All you have to do is tap on a word to look it up in a second. And yes, Keith Richards uses a few words I had to look up (do you know what an ‘Inveterate didicoy’ is? I didn’t. It basically means an ‘incurable wanderer.’) Another great advantage is the ‘highlight’ and ‘notes’ function. When I like a book, it gets filled with so many page markings, it gets messy . But with the iPad, all notes and highlights are easily created, kept or removed.
So what didn’t I like about iPad reading? I discovered something that first day….
After my meeting in the city, I had a little bit of time to kill. Weather-wise, it was a classically beautiful day, as though the city had stolen a Rembrandt landscape from the Met Museum and brought it to life. I figured I’d relax outdoors on a bench with an ice coffee and my ‘book.’ While perched under a blue sky in the warm yellow sun on a city park bench, my eyes attempted to settle into the digital contents of the LCD screen on my sleek chrome gadget of the 21st century.
It felt wrong.
Reading an actual book makes you feel at one with the outdoors- it’s paper, wood, the same substance of the surrounding trees. But staring into a cold, metallic, digital mishmash of microchip technology somehow, at least in a beautiful, sunlit setting like this, feels like a violation of nature. I just couldn’t do it.
Opting for a walk through the park instead, I came to the conclusion that e-reading has it’s perks. It’s just not for leisurely outdoor reading. Still, it’s the perfect reading platform for reading during travel. Or is it?
I’ve discovered one more issue since that day- one that I’m very surprised not to have heard brought up yet in the e-book vs. book debate.
During my recent trip to the San Francisco, (to demonstrate the iPad, ironically), I ended up sitting on runways at both JFK and SFO airports. In both cases, it was announced that there were over a dozen aircraft ahead of us in line for take off. On the outbound flight from SFO, we sat on the runway for about forty-five minutes. On the inbound flight from JFK we’d sat on the runway for over an hour. If you’re a frequent flyer as I am, you know these delays are inevitable. Fortunately I’d brought along a paperback book.
Why do I bring this up?
Because on both flights, there were many fellow passengers who, minutes before, had been engrossed in their e-books on iPads and Amazon Kindles, only to be interrupted by the inevitable announcement: “Ladies and gentlemen, please turn off and stow all electronics until the captain has indicated it is safe to use them. ” In other words all items with an on and off switch must remain turned off during take off and landing, which includes those painfully long runway delays. For e-readers, that means ‘Turn off your books!’
Everyone’s e-reading came to a complete halt. I could sense the squirms, jitters, restlessness and anxiety of my fellow passengers who suddenly had nothing to read, save for the homogenized drivel of the inflight magazine, the overpriced junk from the SkyMall catalogue or the airplane’s safety brochure. As they pined for their iPads and Kindles, I took out the paperback I’d brought along, Herman Hesse’s 1920’s masterpiece ‘Steppenwolf’ (which for some reason, always causes the song ‘Born To Be Wild,’ to get stuck in my head). ; )
Suddenly, I imagined myself unbuckling my seatbelt, standing up and announcing to the entire cabin: “Excuse me ladies and gentleman! Can I please have your attention for one moment? I realize many of you are not able access your chosen reading material at the present time. It is understandable that this is causing you all to undergo a state of duress. Well, allow me to announce a solution: what I now hold in my hands is a major technological innovation- a timeless device that allows you to read during these inevitable long delays upon airport runways. It’s called a ‘book!’
Sarcasm aside, I am no longer an avid e-reading resistor. I think it makes sense for certain situations, especially as a substitute for giant hardcover books during travel. But in general, a good ol’ regular size book can’t be beat. It feels more natural to read outdoors, requires no recharging and while flying, it enables you to read during takeoff, landing and sitting on the runway.
Is e-reading here to stay? Absolutely. But don’t expect the book to disappear anytime soon.