E(asy) Reading

It's close to midnight. Your bags are finally packed. In the morning you will be catching an early plane. You peruse the list of things to bring, one more time. One item has not been checked off: "a good book." You search the coffee table, the bookshelf, the night stand. Nothing you have found will do. You could spend ten bucks for a paperback at the airport, but the pickings might be slim. So you go online to the Greene County Public Library site and download a book to your ebook reader. Aren't you glad the library is open 24/7?

Actually, the above scenario is a bit of a stretch. If you had an ebook reader, you probably wouldn't bother to search the house for a book. You would search the index of your reader, where you would already have dozens of books stored. But it is reassuring to know you can check books out of the library for free any time, night or day. And if you forget to do it before you leave the house, you can do it while you are waiting for your plane.

Last week, I was at a board meeting of the Yellow Springs Library Association. Fellow board member Mary Fisher had brought her new Nook to show off. Soon, Librarian Connie Collett broke out her Kindle and the two started comparing features. Nook is the Barnes and Nobles ebook reader; Kindle is the Amazon brand. Once again, my interest was kindled and I started asking questions about the ebook area of the GCPL website. The thing that fascinated me is how they can electronically enforce the checkout period of two weeks.

"You mean after two weeks the book just disappears?" I asked.

And that's the way it works. If you haven't finished reading your book and it fizzles into the ether, you simply go online and check it out again.

Awhile ago, I had downloaded the free version of Kindle that Amazon provides for home computers. I purchased a book, downloaded it and read it. I liked the experience. For one thing, I seemed to be reading faster. I am normally a slow reader. Of course, juggling a laptop on the couch was no better that juggling a hardbound copy of Moby Dick or War and Peace; probably worse. But it was a positive enough experience that I decided to pursue it further.

I was curious to see if there were any free ebooks available. After Googling around a bit, I found the website for Project Gutenberg an organization that has been publishing free ebooks since the 1970s. Their collection numbers over 30,000 titles that are in the public domain with links to over 100,000 more; all of them classics. Other sites where you can download free books can be found at websites such as 10 Places To Get Free eBooks.

The day after our conversation at the Library Association, I was in Best Buy looking for a cable for my computer. I noticed a man being helped by a salesperson at a display of Sony Readers. I eavesdropped for awhile, then went off to find my cable. On my way back to the exit, I stopped by the display to get a closer look. I was soon engaged by a salesperson who informed me that the reasonable price I was looking at was due to a special sale. After asking a couple dozen questions, I was hooked.

As soon as I got my Sony Reader Touch Edition home, I charged it up and loaded it up with the 40 books I had previously downloaded from the Gutenberg site and tried it out. I was pleased with the results, so my next stop was the library site to check out a book.

The first time you borrow an ebook from the GCPL site the procedure is a bit complicated, because it involves some initial setup. I had been warned about this at the Library Association. But I navigated my way through the process and checked out a mystery for some light reading as a test run. I finished reading it over the rest of the day while taking care of my other business, as well. I did mention that I am normally a slow reader, did I not? The next day, I went back on and checked out a second book. This time it was a lot easier.

This is the wave of the future. I have even heard a report about one school that issued readers to all it's students and then shut down the school library. I wish they had come along with these sooner, like when I was in college. It holds more books than I have owned in my entire lifetime and has slots for flash memory in case 350 books is not enough for you. It also has a built-in mp3 player, so you can listen to music while you read! And it has a lot of other cool features, such as highlighting, the ability to make hand-written notes on the page and a built in dictionary.

But the key for me is that handling the Reader is much easier than holding a book and dealing with turning pages. It seems like I can never find a comfortable position when I am reading a book for a long time. After awhile my hand starts to cramp from holding the book open. This is not a problem with an ebook reader. Now that I have dealt with that subconscious deterrent, I have a feeling I will be reading a lot more.

Related post: Free ebooks and readers