How we read (or don’t), part 3

I mentioned in an earlier post a study that suggests people are reading less. Personally, I think I’m reading more. Perhaps fewer books but that’s about being busy launching LaunchPad Coworking and not about a waning love of the written word. I read online pretty constantly and get at least as many good ideas from the internet as I could find in a library.

I also posted about my acquisition, upon its release, of a Kindle. This electronic device is the latest in a line of gadgets designed to revolutionize how we read books. It’s absolutely fugly, but amazingly lightweight and can hold enough reading material to keep you nose-to-the-screen for weeks on end.

It’s important to note that, like the telegraph, phones, TV, the internet, email, IMs, etc., the Kindle isn’t instead of anything. It’s in addition to. We don’t need to fear a giant sucking sound as the world moves en masse from books to eInk.

I played around a bit with my Kindle at home, but vowed to give it a real road test as soon as possible. I decided that on my next trip, I’d take it, and only it — no hard copy books — and see if it fulfilled my need to have a variety of reading materials at my fingertips at all times.

I took that trip recently — a four-day jaunt. Normally I would’ve taken a few magazines and at least three books with me, two to actually read and a third for backup, in case one of my first two choices turned out to be a dud. I felt a little naked not having actual books with me. To give the Kindle a fair chance, I decided it would be a good idea to stick with light reading. I bought:

• Born Standing Up: A Comic’s Life (Steve Martin’s memoir)
• Homo Politicus: The Strange and Scary Tribes that Run Our Government
• I Am America (And So Can You!)

I also carried electronic versions of the latest issues of The Nation (admittedly this doesn’t count as light reading) and Salon.

I used the Kindle’s book cover sleeve in hopes that I wouldn’t constantly hit the previous and next page buttons all the time. This helped a lot. I’d rather not have to use it, but it really is quite an improvement.

The plan worked. I like how light the Kindle is. I like the lack of screen glare. One thing I did miss was being able to tell how far along I was in the book. While there is an indicator on the screen that shows what percentage of the book you’ve finished, it’s just not the same as looking at real pages to estimate how far you’ve gone and how much you have left to go.

When I took a trip around the world in 1998, I did so without the benefit of a stash of books and music because I was a one-bag traveler with little room for extra stuff. Occasionally I’d find a handful of books written in English in some little store or lending library off the beaten path. I’d be so excited at the prospect of reading English I’d often just select the fattest book in hopes that it would last me until I’d stumble across another find. (I read some truly dreadful stuff, but that’s another post)

A trip like that today would be very different. I have an iPod. I have a Kindle. I won’t have to decide whether or not to pack music and books on my next very long trip. Surprisingly, this leaves me with mixed feelings. I’m glad the Kindle lends itself to bringing along the equivalent of two hundred pounds of books in a few ounces. On the other hand, I have to admit that the lack of books and music forced me to really go out and interact with the people I met and to take in the sights of the places I was visiting. Was it perhaps part of the journey, part of the lesson, to be away from those easy escapes? Probably. And would I have had as remarkable and profound a trip had I had them along? Probably not.

So the next time I go on an extended travel binge, what will I pack? I imagine I’ll go ahead and bring the Kindle but promise myself that I won’t use it as a crutch. We’ll see.