Anything Is Possible: Like Actually Enjoying A Good Digital Read

[question everything]

The Wall Street Journal

PORTALS
By LEE GOMES

Anything Is Possible: Like Actually Enjoying A Good Digital Read
September 5, 2007; Page B1

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Most people beyond a certain age would regard reading for pleasure on a computer an oxymoron. The machine is associated with the office, and nothing quite takes your mind off a detective novel than having an email alert pop up. The ergonomics are all wrong, too; the eyes get tired, and even an Aeron chair has nothing on a good recliner. No wonder most people still print out anything long they need to read carefully. All this, though, is slowly starting to change. There are new ways to read old things.

Both the Internet Archives (archive.org) and Project Gutenberg (gutenberg.org) allow you to download entire books free of charge, usually those no longer under copyright, either as text or as scanned images. The free, not-for-profit Million Book Project is a work in progress at ulib.org.

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But in the past year, there has been another go at digital readers, thanks to an innovative screen technology from a Cambridge company called E Ink. This display is monochrome, and reflects ambient light rather than being back lit like an LCD. While you need to be in a fairly bright room for the screen to be easily readable, you can also take it outside in the bright sun, where it looks its best. Its resolution is much higher than on a desktop monitor, resulting in smooth text without any jaggy edges. And since you aren't staring into a bright light, your eyes don't get as tired. Sony has been selling an E Ink-based reader for nearly a year; it now sells for $300. Amazon is rumored to be preparing its own.

Michael Lesk of Rutgers University said reading researchers like himself know that readers retain information from a screen as well as they do from a printed page. But it's an open question as to whether the emotional experiences of the two are the same, or whether ink stamped on a tactile piece of paper that you hold in your hands somehow makes more of an impact than ghostly letters that flicker on an ever-changing screen. My own little test, using the Sony Reader to reread "Pride and Prejudice" suggests it doesn't.

For the first few minutes, I was too aware of the new technology, and had trouble concentrating on the story. But that didn't last long, and I soon settled in, laughing and worrying in all the right places. At the end, I was just as happy for Elizabeth Bennet as I had been when I first read it in paperback.

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