My own feelings about the technology are conflicted.  I've been reading Thorne Smith's "Topper" (which I somehow never got around to until now) as an ebook on my Hanlin, and am finding it fairly pleasant.  Stuffed into the device I have several other Project Gutenberg titles, including Trollope's Barsetshire novels (which I never had the patience for as a young pup, but think I may enjoy a lot more in middle age).  It really is rather impressive to be holding a shelfsworth of weighty literature casually in one hand.  The technology is exciting, undeniably so.  It seems to have such enormous promise.  I live nowadays where clearcuts -- and the damage from clearcutting -- are painfully visible.  Fewer dead trees is a concept I can definitely get behind.

The real issue, I suppose, is not so much the technology -- which aside from issues of toxicity, resource consumption, accessibility, is more or less value-neutral -- as intellectual property law.  The technology merely leads us back into the mess that is intelprop...

The difference between theory and practise in practise ...

is this the exact change for the toll?

stirring stuff!

the only positive aspect to writing for e-books rather than for paper would be html, having live links in your pages.

i never had an e-reader, so a lot would depend on the UI and the physical presence of the e-reader, its heft, how it sat on my knee on a long train ride, whether it was aesthetically designed would also factor, is it a functional lump, or an accessory? not in the fashion sense, but in the sense of making friends with it.

pairing!

the question of property rights is one of the gnarliest ones around, as we all know, making artistic creativity pay is a lot harder these days, (see TBG's many good comments about this at ET), yet some have leaped the hurdle of enclosure and seen profits rise as they trusted their fans more, and were generous with them.

i used to be a classic bookworm, coming back from the library in rural hawaii with 5 or more heavy tomes to ponder in the jungle, or going camping alone up on dartmoor with the gormenghast trilogy.

so the idea of being able to go further with more knowledge, packaged in lighter form, certainly has an appeal.

since 2004 i hardly read a book any more!

main reason? they seem like yesterday's news, and the internet has subbed in and then some for my urges to imbibe others' ideas.

it's difficult for me to concentrate on reading a novel, f'rinstance, when my laptop beckons, it's incredible potential to entertain and educate in real time, it's tingling with topicality, you might say.

but laptops are still hot and bulky compared to a tree-book usually, and you can't take them to the beach and read them in a hammock, as the salt breeze and sand will kill them.

so while holidaying in costa rica, i effortlessly re-kindled (!) my affection for books again, and happily left my 'top behind.

what would make me plump for an e-reader?

first of all it should be extremely light, and preferably with the ability to hover in space wherever i set it, (a great feature for laptops too!).

it should be able to go online and it should handle html.

it should have solar panels built in to the 'cover'.

at this point we're looking at a notepad, aren't we?

and a Gutenberg project writ long and large, volunteer or taxbased.

great diary, i have more to share, but gotta run right now...

~"When an inner situation is not made conscious, it appears outside as fate." Karl Jung~