Ereaders.com is back, after a protracted struggle with the nefarious algorithms and people-bots at Google. I am still waiting for my invite to see a Giants game at the Google box in San Francisco, but as I rarely get to California these days, I guess I can wait. The last game this author saw was at Candlestick Park.
Now, for where to go from here…
Ereaders are steadily making an impact, despite the resistance of a generation weaned on video. People will not stop reading – at least I hope they won’t stop. The world is filled with plenty of ignorance as it is. Ereaders refers both to dedicated electronic reading devices, such as the kindle, and to the people who read using such devices (you and me).
The reason I am so big on ereaders is because multi-media devices such as tablets are inherently inferior reading devices. They suffer from poor light quality (backlight), poor screen displays that cause eye strain, glare, short battery life, slow start up and shut down, and more. This is because they are build to accommodate a number of devices and media, and cannot by definition focus on a quality reading experience. This is all talked about elsewhere.
Another thing that has just come to my attention is… well, our attention. Everybody, and everything, wants it. Our attention is under assault like never before in human history. To paraphrase from Leo Babuta’s book Focus:
When we’re working, we have distractions coming from every direction. In front of us is the computer, with email notifications and other notifications of all kinds. Twitter, Facebook, Linked-in, MSN Messenger, Yahoo Messenger, Skype… Then there’s the addicting lure of the browser, which contains not only an endless amount of reading material, video and games that can be a black hole into which we never escape, but unlimited opportunities for shopping, for chatting with other people, for gossip and news and lurid photos and so much more. All the while, several new emails have come in, waiting for a quick response. Several programs are open at once, each of them with tasks to complete. Several people would like to chat, dividing our attention even further.
Ereaders allow us to read. Just read. And this is important. The chronic multitasking mode that most of us live with is destroying our ability to think and to learn effectively. Brains jump from one soundbyte or videobyte to another, without much time for thought or reflection in between. Ereaders, though, put us completely in the book we are reading. No distractions, nothing else to catch our eye. We are able to absorb and involve ourselves, the way we do with paper books.
This will all become more evident to the masses as time goes on. But suffice to say, ereaders will be our place of solace and of learning in the noisy world to come.
Oh, and for a wonder free ebook for that ereader, try downlaoding Focus. It’s a wonderful book about how to get our attention back from all the things that have stolen it from us. Available free here.