He wrote a list of pluses and minuses, but this one stuck out at me:
When he was on John Stewart, Jeff Bezos mentioned that the Kindle was
great for one-handed reading, which got a salacious chuckle from the
audience (and Stewart), but I think it's best for no-handed
reading: i.e., when you're reading while eating a meal, one of life's
great pleasures. It's almost impossible to read a paperback while
eating, and you really have to snap the spine of a hardcover to get it
to lie flat, but the Kindle just sits there on the table helpfully
while you cut up your teriyaki.
This is my favorite thing to. (I read on an iPhone.)
On the other hand, I’d be much less likely to use a multi-hundred dollar bit of electronic gear where I might spill something on it, where that wouldn’t be so much of a concern with a paperback book.
How is it for reading while exersizing?
Sounds a bit risky, what with the danger of dropping it.
Just take a heavy hardcover and use it to hold open the pages of the book you are reading.
I found the Kindle2 hard to hold with one hand – the back is metal and the front is slick plastic so you have to squeeze it to avoid slippage.
I’ve been reading electronically for years (though not with a Kindle). It’s great for reading during meals at the table. But also, unlike the Kindle, what tablets with backlit displays are great at is reading in bed in the dark. No need to sit up or flop back and forth as you turn the pages — and no need for a reading light that will annoy your spouse who’s trying to sleep.
Anyone know how well the kindle handles pdf conversions to kindle format if the pdf has a lot of equations? Still readable?
The years I would read during lunch, I used a stainless steel bookstand with J-shaped braces that folded out to hold the covers/pages open of most any sized sturdy hardcover (paperbacks were always too small, but I read lots of cloth editions anyway). I only had to wipe my fingers before turning a page. The appeal of low-tech reading persists, and if energy consumption continues to be a concern, printed books must still cost less to produce and distribute than running a machine through a 45- or 60-minute lunch break day after day, no?
I remember a scene in 2001: A Space Odyssey where one of the Jupiter-bound astronauts read the news hands-free from his kindle-like device while eating his breakfast.
Of course, I may be wrong, ’cause I haven’t seen it since it played in the cinemas over 40 years ago…
I wonder if paying attention to reading versus eating at the dinner table could lead to increased calorie intake?
If your hardcover books won’t lay flat unless you crack the spine, they are not *real* (signature-bound) hardcovers but glue-bound trash.
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