Phone Books
Posted: Friday 09 April, 2010
Pete Goold
As a passionate bookworm this has been a fairly significant departure for me. Much as my feelings are regarding the experience of vinyl over that of a CD, I'm sure that I will always love the feeling of starting a new paperback.
However, although it took some getting used to, I actually found it pretty easy to read a book on my mobile. And the second was much easier than the first.
Obviously the Japanese have been reading books on their phones for years, albeit primarily in serialised form. However, there undoubtedly remains a social stigma in Europe to doing so, to the point of me feeling that I should be a little coy about it to avoid people thinking it/me weird.
Having carried four books out and bought three more whilst away, practicality alone suggests that digital versions make good sense (not least because we were forced to pay excess baggage on the way out, which is clearly a one-off, yet which still underlines the point about the cost, weight, size and resources required for the traditional delivery model of what is fundamentally a creative product and need not necessarily be so resource-intensive).
Cost was also a factor; books in Spain were about ten euros whilst the digital ones purchased were five or six dollars.
Moreover, I'm now past the need to proudly display those books that I've read on our already bulging bookshelves and I really do despise the thought of them sitting there unused 'forever'. OK, so there's always the library - but that has little appeal. So, when I get back I'll be passing on all the books that we read, with a view to them being 'recycled', rather than sitting gathering dust.
In short, the idea of a digital version appeals greatly. Certainly the act of reading on a phone is not for everyone - but I persevered and am glad that I did.
What has undoutedly come out of this is that it's reinforced my desire for an ipad as a larger consumption device which doesn't feel like a step backwards for a smartphone user, as is apparently the case with the Kindle itself, according to some reviewers.
Incidentally, I'm currently halfway through the digital version of 'The Girl With The Dragon Tattoo', which I heartily recommend to any lover of crime fiction. I seem to have mostly avoided the hype over the last 18 months but either way, based on the book to date, it seems richly deserved and I'll be picking up the second two parts of the trilogy - probably as paperbacks from a High Street bookstore, which shows where my heart still lies for the time being - in the next week or so.
