Getting actual E ink display led to me reading more, since it's comfortable to hold compared to an actual book but easier on the eyes than a smartphone.
I feel dumb saying that books aren’t ergonomic… But they aren’t! I hate holding them open so much. This should be a minor complaint, but it’s a huge benefit of ereaders to me.
people act as if books are the be-all end-all of information, but like.. they're just the best people managed with resources and technology of the time! If you asked an ancient scholar if they prefer a book, or a tablet with MANY books in it, gee i sure do wonder which one they'd choose..
You read faster with eReaders too. The act of turning pages with a paper book becomes a ritual that consumes more time than it needs to, and over thousands of pages that ritual definitely adds up.
Same, I'm 37 and barely read anything since highschool. My fiance got me a kindle in July and I'm a reading machine. I love me some fantasy and sci Fi.
Just finished the book "4000 Weeks". It's written by a guy who was originally obsessed with all the "maximize your time" books like Eat That Frog and 4-hour workweek.
He now changed course, instead focusing on just living.
Big takeaway: time is going to move, with or without you. "Maximizing your time" and completing endless checklists to one day "find time" is a quest for failure. It'll never arise. Do the thing you wanna do.
I read a lot, for example I just read a four panel web comic and a comment that went "if the words of all the memes i read were added, it would amount to few books worth".
I read a lot, for example I just read a four panel web comic and a comment that went "I read a lot, for example I just read a four panel web comic and a comment that went “if the words of all the memes i read were added, it would amount to few books worth”."
Audiobooks are the solution, not perfect but better than nothing. I "read" my books while cooking, while cleaning, in the bus, while walking around, in the car and at the fitness club.
No hate for audio books, but I think it's not comparable to reading. They are fundamentally different ways to get things in your brain, and they are handled differently. It's a different thing. Granted, if you want to experience a narrative or story, fine. But it's not reading. If you want to read, you look at words on a page. If you want to listen to an audio book, you do not want to read.
That is why I wrote "it is not perfect". I agree that reading is different. Not really for the reason you mentioned though. For me it is mostly, that reading is relaxing for me, audiobooks aren't. But one takes what one can get. Maybe when the children are bigger I start reading again.
Audiobooks are also great if distraction keeps you from reading. Similarly, they help if you have trouble staying interested during the boring parts of a book.
Both apply to me, and I've gotten through hundreds of audiobooks since I started ~11 years ago. I listen while traveling, cooking, cleaning, doing puzzles, and even while playing some videogames. I often listen alongside my wife or kids, making it a much more shared experience than a regular book. Audiobooks are great.
I've tried dozens of times and in many different contexts and settings. For the love of me, if I'm trying to do something else while listening to an AudioBook, not a single word is registered by my brain. I would make it through chapters and suddenly realize I have no clue of what is happening in the plot or who the characters are.
I see someone down voted you for some reason. In case it's because of the misconception that audiobooks aren't as good as reading, several years back there was some research which showed that as far as the brain is concerned, there's essentially no difference.
"Looking at the brain scans and data analysis, the researchers saw that the stories stimulated the same cognitive and emotional areas, regardless of their medium. It’s adding to our understanding of how our brains give semantic meaning to the squiggly letters and bursts of sound that make up our communication."
It's just the same attitude as people who claim it's not really reading if you're using an eReader. Some people get weirdly elitist about books and reading
I highly recommend everyone look at the many free resources. I use it a lot for fiction, things I can listen to it in a few days.
I also have an audible account and buy a lot of non-fiction. Because those books, I tend to listen multiple times, or listen to a couple minutes over the course of a year.
My wife gifted me a kindle 3 or 4 years ago and I've read religiously 30mins a night minimum. I upgraded to a waterproof one so I can sit in the pool or at the beach and read too.
I will say, for anyone who feels this way: set yourself a goal of reading for 15 min/day. It’s not even a full episode of that show you’re binging (unless you’re binging Burning Love, which I highly recommend). You will almost always read more than just that 15, but starting is the hardest part.
The one thing that has gotten me to read more is the price increase in streaming services along with a decrease in shows that I find interesting.
All that extra time I would be trying to find a show I now just open a book and read. So thank you Netfilx, et. al. for your greed has reintroduced books into my life.