In which I am AMBIVALENT about e-readers
I'd rather like an e-reader device, but I doubt I can be trusted alone with a "download instantly" feature. I'm pretty sure impulse buying is where an e-reader would cost me the most money, even when taking into account the huge damn price of the thing itself. Hence my ambivalence, because the NYPL branches offer free books for the borrowing, AND you can sit in them! Even Starbucks forces you to buy coffee to rent space.
As an aside, I submit mortifying library story #372: I was in the Mid-Manhattan branch searching fruitlessly in the Literature section for a Stephen King book (feel free to laugh for several reasons - but Dewey and his decimal system did direct me to be where I was - I still claim miss-shelving shenanigans), when an erudite looking fellow offered to help me find whatever it was I was looking for because he knew the floor like the back of his hand. Too ashamed to admit I was looking for supernatural dreck, I declined his offer and slunk away to the medical reference section upstairs. Still, I find it in my heart to return every once in a while.
I'm not going to get romantic (sentimental?) over how much I love real books with real pages that have a real scent and a real feel and varied angles and textures that catch the light in a particularly lovely way. The written word, moveable type, mass printing, books - historical game changers all. So is a lot of dead technology, like the first iteration of the plowshare and the Apple II.
One the other hand, SHINY. And I could use the shelf space.
I haven't researched the various devices out there. As with the Blu-ray v. HD DVD throwdown, I plan to sit on the fence until a technology like streaming and downloadable video makes the entire issue moot. But right now, I have to say...I like name product name "nook" better than "Kindle."
As an aside, I submit mortifying library story #372: I was in the Mid-Manhattan branch searching fruitlessly in the Literature section for a Stephen King book (feel free to laugh for several reasons - but Dewey and his decimal system did direct me to be where I was - I still claim miss-shelving shenanigans), when an erudite looking fellow offered to help me find whatever it was I was looking for because he knew the floor like the back of his hand. Too ashamed to admit I was looking for supernatural dreck, I declined his offer and slunk away to the medical reference section upstairs. Still, I find it in my heart to return every once in a while.
I'm not going to get romantic (sentimental?) over how much I love real books with real pages that have a real scent and a real feel and varied angles and textures that catch the light in a particularly lovely way. The written word, moveable type, mass printing, books - historical game changers all. So is a lot of dead technology, like the first iteration of the plowshare and the Apple II.
One the other hand, SHINY. And I could use the shelf space.
I haven't researched the various devices out there. As with the Blu-ray v. HD DVD throwdown, I plan to sit on the fence until a technology like streaming and downloadable video makes the entire issue moot. But right now, I have to say...I like name product name "nook" better than "Kindle."