How I increased my reading using eBooks on iPhone
August 4, 2008 2:10 pm Finding books, RevieweBooks are infuriating, and using a reader on my phone gives me eyestrain in the dark, but I now couldn’t do without them!
I recently downloaded Stanza (free) for my iPhone and downloaded a whole bunch of open access books from Feedbooks. Over the weekend, I travelled to an interstate birthday party. I took my book with me, of course, but I got at least as much reading done on my phone.
My last book, Neuromancer, took me about 3 weeks to read. I am so far halfway through the Trial, after just three days. I admit that I am reading very slowly at the moment, but the iPhone reader has made a huge difference. During the last week, I read my electronic copy of The Trial:
- While sitting in my car, waiting for my sleeping baby to wake
- While waiting for hubby to finish filling the car with petrol
- Waiting in line at the register at Target
- Lying in bed in a darkened room, as my daughter was sleeping in our room
- Sitting in the airport lounge waiting for Qantas to get it together
These are all times I wouldn’t get my book out, o wouldn’t normally have ti with me. A couple of pages have let me read more of this novel, and keep my train of thought through a very busy weekend. Even though the format is difficult (I mean, who is happy with a chapter of 53 pages?), it has been a life-saver.
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August 4th, 2008 at 3:23 pm
Do you find your attention wandering more with the phone format? I’m curious about how different formats change our reading habits.
August 4th, 2008 at 3:45 pm
I find it harder to settle in for a long session of reading. And it is infuriating to read for long sessions, simply because I am not great at the page turn gesture, and it is too easy to turn too far etc. When you have to turn the page every 12 lines, it bugs you.
However, this totally fills a gap for me. Instead of sitting drumming my fingers, I read a few lines. Every time I go back to my real-life novel, I get to turn a few more pages.
To answer your question, I think I actually concentrate more when I am reading on the phone, but for shorter bursts.
And there is an unexpected benefit. If I read a dusty old copy of a classic, I know it is an old book. The ereader makes it sort of timeless, and I get to put the text into a today context.