"Reading is Reading" - Reading V.2.0

Books are no more threatened by Kindle 

than stairs by elevators.

― Stephen Fry

Welcome back to The Art of Caesura!

If you haven't had a chance to read last week's post yet, I would suggest that you check it out because it sets the scene for today's discussion. 

Last week, we focused on the joy of physical reading - reading physical books / magazines / comics and the book shops and libraries that house them. Today we're looking at their digital vis-a-vis. 

Reading has always been a big part of my life and remains so both professionally (academic journals) and personally (everything else). I mentioned last week that, while I love the experience of reading physical media, I also love e-reading, so today we're going to focus on the latter. 

I was a somewhat early adapter to e-readers. I bought the Kobo Aura when it first came out in 2013 and happily used it up until it died last year, when I replaced it with the Onyx Boox Poke 2 (I know...these names!). 

With e-readers, I love the obvious convenience of being able to carry loads of books around in your pocket on a screen that is much nicer to read from than a phone. This has been invaluable through my wife and my many and varied travels. She lugged Shantaram around India, while I e-read. 

There is also the convenience of having the option of a back-lit screen, a very helpful feature for late night reading when you don't want to disturb your partner (or baby) with the bed-side lamp. 

I won't go into all of the convenient features of an e-reader, because this isn't meant to be a sales pitch, but I will mention a couple more that I use all the time. 

Pocket. I love Pocket. When I'm scrolling the web on my phone, I will often come across articles that look interesting, but I don't have the time or mind-space to read then and there. With two taps I can save it to Pocket and read it on my e-reader later. 

Another feature I love hearkens back to our discussion last week: libraries. Pretty much all libraries nowadays have the facility to borrow e-books. My local library uses Borrow Box and Libby and in addition to e-books, they have loads of magazines including the great "Damaged" mag - all about weathering miniatures. I can access both of these apps with my library card. I also get free books (typically the Classics) off the Kobo and Kindle apps.

But e-readers can't do everything. I find them particularly bad for comics / graphic novels / magazines. Enter my wife's old tablet. 

The tablet is old enough to be at that annoying stage of still being able to do everything, but just being very slow and not being able to update properly. No problem. All it needs to be able to do is open a PDF. 

I use this tablet to read the loads of comics that I get for next to nothing (while contributing to charity) off Humble Bundle. 

You will have noticed that I have repeatedly used the word "convenience" throughout this post. And for me that is what e-readers excel at. For me they do not usually provide the same experience as reading a physical book, but that's the point. I capitalize on the strengths of physical and e-reading for different situations and do not malign one or the other for their downfalls. 

I hope you've enjoyed this little jaunt into e-reading. I'll see you next week right here on The Art of Caesura!

(e-)reading: Blackstone Fortress - Darius Hinks

Watching: Top Chef - Season 2

Next Week:

A new quest...