Another argument for the Kindle

My main view on communications media is that new systems usually add to old ones, rather than displacing them. Radio didn't eliminate books and newspapers -- that would come later!; movies didn't eliminate still photos; TV didn't eliminate either movies or radio; and the internet has not (yet) eliminated TV. A few communications systems do disappear altogether, except for specialist/curio use: vinyl records, photos on real film, etc. Usually the field just becomes more crowded and the options more diverse.

So it will be, at least for a while, with e-readers like the Kindle versus "real" books. My two Kindles -- and the other competing models that no doubt I'll eventually buy -- are more convenient in many circumstances than thick, heavy books. In other cases, the "real" books are just nicer.

One of the nice elements of a real book is all the physical manifestations of its substance and tone: the look of the print on the page, the kind of binding, the look of the jacket and the illustration on the cover, plus the fact that when you're holding a book in public those qualities somehow become part of your presence too.

Thus when I ordered a book that I'd heard was good -- The Max, by Ken Bruen and Jason Starr -- and it arrived just before I was headed to the airport for a trip, I had to decide: was I actually going to read this in a crowded airport and on a jam-packed plane?
 

I decided -- ummm, No. (Yes, I realize this is part of the superb Hard Case Crime series, which features retro-lurid covers as its trademark.) If I'd had it on a Kindle, no problem! But for a man of mature years, I figured this was not the right look for a Sunday afternoon in public. Maybe I need to loosen up. Or just stuff the thing inside a magazine and let people think I'm reading that. Imagine how impressed they will be: