Page Comparison

- I really like how the Kindle makes it a lot easier to read big books.
a. It's physically easier: big books are i) heavy, and ii) unwieldy
b. It's psychologically easier. You don't get as distracted by the number of pages you still need to read.





Q: Are E-Readers (like the Kindle) worth purchasing?
A: At the moment I think it depends.
. . . . I've come to the conclusion that a lot of the reason people value these fancy gadgets is the status it conveys. I remember feeling sorry for myself in high school because my classmates had fancy expensive I-pods and I had a less-expensive I-River AA-battery powered mp3 player with way less space. When I got my first-ever ipod several years later I insisted on having a white one--even though I thought the black ones were more attractive--because the ones all my friends had had in high school were white and I had developed a strong emotional attachment to the idea of having a white ipod.
. . . . Behavior like this is why I don't like spending lots of time around one group of people. I (like others) can fall prey to peer pressure way too easily. And this is also why I'm very suspicious of any longing I may feel for an e-reader, ipad, iphone, or whatever.
. . . . Assuming you aren't getting it for the reasons described above, I think the Kindle is best used for reading novels, since people tend to just read novels straight through (they don't flip around). When I'm reading to gain good ideas, though, even if it's an autobiography, I tend to want to flip around a lot between sections and write things all over the margins and between the lines. At the moment the Kindle can't come close to offering that. Another huge problem is the cost of books on e-readers; right now it's 1/4 the cost to get used books rather than digital versions. They need to make it like music, where if you get a hard-copy you also gain the rights to the digital version.
. . . . I could see an e-reader being useful, though, if you were going on a short trip and wanted to bring a lot of books with you, but didn't have space or didn't want to carry them all around. And once the books become way cheaper and once it becomes easy to write stuff all over the pages i can see the e-reader becoming more useful. And I must admit I'm very impressed with the e-ink technology; it's much easier on the eyes.
- reading is done for different reasons at different times, a lot like how sports are done for different reasons at different times: sometimes it's just for fun, sometimes it's to get in shape, sometimes it's to make money (an expo event or race or something), and sometimes it's for glory (olympics). reading can be done for pleasure or to gain new ideas about how to proceed in a part of your life.
- if you are reading to gain knowledge from a book, you should probably not read the same way that you do when you read a novel for pleasure (i.e. reading straight through as if you were living the events described). your goal is instead to maximize the amount of knowledge you gain for the amount of time you invest in the book. a good way to do that is to circle or write down any ideas you find significant or useful; these are the gold nuggets you're looking for amongst the rest of the book. if you were hunting for gold nuggets in a river you wouldn't just set them down any old place on the ground after you found one, because then you'd be liable to forget them later when it was time to leave. for the same reason, if you find a great idea in a book, you should immediately note it (circle it or write it down someplace you can be sure you won't forget it) so that you don't risk losing it by forgetting about it.
- your goal when reading for knowledge / ideas should be to find ideas that will change your behavior in very practical & predictable ways. it may be better to look for ideas that you will have time to recall when you need to make the relevant decision. while saying that i'm imagining a fork in the road, and that the the idea i get from that book will make me switch paths from what I would have done otherwise.
- gaining knowledge about something from a book is NOT the same as gaining knowledge about it through other kinds of experience (e.g. learning about how to fly planes from a book vs. actually getting hands-on experience flying planes). at the moment i think people sometimes overestimate the value of knowledge from books and underestimate the value of knowledge through other means.
- a useful way to make sure you're processing the stuff you're reading is to make sure you're visualizing every idea that's thrown out at you.
Q: Why not use audio-books instead of reading?
A: Hmm...off the top of my head, I'd say the big downside of an audiobook is that it continues to press on and on. With a book, you can be constantly taking the material in the book and reflecting on it (by daydreaming about other things that you can connect the book to). Another good thing about a book is that you can write notes in it and then later come back to them; with an audiobook I don't really see how you could do that as easily (unless you had an e-book that automatically recognized your speech and added it in the margins of the page).