Life With….

For Christmas, I was given a Kindle. I am still trying to figure out what exactly I think about it. I see the value of it, both in terms of physical space and money – but – I find it different.  (Additionally for my friends spending time abroad or my brother being deployed and without the time or space to collect the lbs of books needed to entertain him, it makes perfect sense and is an invaluable tool.)   It changes my reading experience, the page turning is slow, the word spacing seems off, the weight and size seem wrong, and the actual experience of reading the way the words hit your eyes seems different. In fact it makes me tired to read it for more then about half an hour – something that rarely happens when reading a book or other paper products, and is even infrequent when reading off a back-lit computer screen.  I have never thought of myself as conservative in regards to technology – but I may have it a point where I am – we shall see.
As I have stated elsewhere on this blog – I have some learning disabilities that relating to writing. They also relate to reading – I often, when reading aloud, notice that I miss words (though rarely if at all do I miss a word that changes the meaning of the sentence). When I am tired, I can lose ability to truly focus my eyes, and may briefly have moments where I lack the ability to fuse the eyes and see double, this is always true when something is close into my face. I also can, for fun, control this and make the words all disappear and the page turn white. Needless to say some  online for fun vision games – and tests – are incredibly frustrating and I often fail them. Reading the Kindle, when tired causes me to feel this same sense of exhaustion that these tests can. But when not tired, I can use it for brief periods effectively, I assume that getting used to it, just as getting used to reading off a laptop will be conquered and I will use it often for travel, pulp fiction, and while on the metro.
At the same time, I don’t think it will ever replace books for me. First of all books are aesthetically pleasing, and comforting, and I like, and usually am surrounded by them. There is something affirming about holding them, and possessing the words, a book gives physicality to an idea and to a story, and many ways stories are my lifeblood.
I think in stories, and dream in them. I constantly tell myself them, and use them to create amusements. I have done this my whole life – creating stories that allowed me to create alien traps to decorate my brother’s rooms, or stage games. Stories that made me wonder about existential questions or let me imagine how to be someone other then me.
Additionally reading, and “curling up with a book” is a source of comfort to me. When I am off kilter I get into my bed, or if its really bad day my guest bed which was my high school bed, and read. I escape into words, into someone else’s mind and words. I don’t need electricity, or really anything else, so long as I have good story, that I can physically curl around while under a blanket.

Similarly, think of how you read a newspaper online versus in print.  Online you see the headline, and maybe the summary, and then decide to read the article.  If you are into arts you check that section, sports you scroll down to their – ignoring much of the rest of the screen.  When you physically have open the paper to get to part 2 of the story you see other headlines some of which catch your eye, and while flipping to a section headlines, images, and book reviews from other sections catch your eye holding up your flip to your ostensible only interest.

I don’t see myself ever completely abandoning the printed word in favor of the electronic as the act of reading the printed word, be it a paper or book is a source of comfort and interest.   But this comes from an almost 30 year old who still gets the Sunday Times delivered for the shear pleasure of pouring over the paper.   All of this may change, but for now – I think my book collection is safe and the Kindle will be reserved for spy novels and the like that I would want to blow through and probably not want to read again – that is assuming I can ever finish my first book on the kindle (as opposed to magazine article and/or short story) without being diverted by a paper book.

All text and copyrights preserved by the author 02csb For more information visit http://www.peebesalgy.com Courtney Brown

Create Your Badge  All text and copyrights preserved by the author for words and original pictures and may not be used without author's permission. For more information visit http://www.peebesalgy.com Follow me on Twitter @ http://twitter.com/peebesalgy or contact me directly through http://www.peebesalgy.com/blog/contact-me/ Courtney Brown | Create Your Badge