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You DO Like Reading Off Screens

I've got a editorial in the March edition of Locus Magazine, "You Do Like Reading Off Screens," that tries to explain why people who read off screens all day say that they won't buy ebooks because they "don't like reading off screens."

"I don't like reading off a computer screen" — it's a cliché of the e-book world. It means "I don't read novels off of computer screens" (or phones, or PDAs, or dedicated e-book readers), and often as not the person who says it is someone who, in fact, spends every hour that Cthulhu sends reading off a computer screen. It's like watching someone shovel Mars Bars into his gob while telling you how much he hates chocolate...

The problem, then, isn't that screens aren't sharp enough to read novels off of. The problem is that novels aren't screeny enough to warrant protracted, regular reading on screens.

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9 Responses to “You DO Like Reading Off Screens”

1. Martin says:

   March 18, 2007 at 9:34 pm

   Nope, don't go along with this at all.

   yes, I read heaps at work and at home off the screen, but I do it sitting in my chair at the desk and I don't really have a choice as I need to be able to interact with this type of reading, i.e answer emails, reply to blogs etc, make comments on essays/papers and therefore I need an input method as well as a screen. So given that all the decent input methods so far need me to sit at a desk, then I'm forced to read off a screen which could be far better.

   Now when I'm reading a novel, I want to be able to read it on my bed, in the car, on the train, in the cafe where I'm having my lunch and various other sundry places, and I don't have to interact with the novel. I might like to make a few notes on the page, but it is not a high order of priority as a novel reader. So let's look at my options if I want to do this digitally:

   Mobile phone - who would want to read any sort of text on a mobile phone screen if they could avoid it, SMS sure fine, but anything else is just a pain.

   PDA - better, not too bad for short files, but inherently clumsy to read email, let alone a novel or business report or scientific paper. So points for portability, but screen is too small and too low res and still doesn't cope with strong light conditions.

   Notebook PC - good size, modern LCD screens are good enough res to be comfortable, but for size, battery life and coping with strong light conditions it fails.

   Now let's compare with a paperback or a magazine or even a newspaper

   - resolution as good or better than any digital equivalent
   - far more robust than any of the digital alternatives, try dropping a book on the stairs versus dropping your digital option
   - in terms of size and how cumbersome they are, even the newspaper is comparable, as I can fold it up, and books and magazines are equivalent to anything except the mobile phone
   - interaction - can use a pen and write on it, not as useful as digital text, but easier than entering text into digital equivalents
   - more easily read in the vast majority of lighting conditions, except perhaps in the cinema, and you shouldn't be reading there anyway

   I've used my notebook in bed to read novels, so it's not that the novel is not screeny enough, it's just that current implementations of the screens aren't good enough to displace the printed word yet.

   So I use digital stuff to read stuff all the time and because I need interactivity with much of my reading I have to use the digital stuff for that, but if I could have a digital notepad (aka Dynabook) that had the characteristics of pen/paper (or unobtrusive voice input) that would be far superior to current setups and I would have no qualms about buying e-books and reading them on my digital notepad with its 3000dpi screen
   -
2. Simon Sherlock says:

   March 19, 2007 at 5:00 am

   I sort of agree with the comment above but I increasingly read novels on my PDA. I still say I prefer to read a book, but I think this is now nothing more than a habit thing to say. Novels on my PDA are fine and the real plus point is I can take them everywhere with me AND I don't wake my wife up turning the light on to read in the middle of the night (though a PDA screen is BRIGHT at 2am when you can't sleep!).

   For all other books though I prefer a real book; reference material with pictures and diagrams is useless on a PDA or phone and involves flicking from one programme to another if you do it on PC (though I'm getting used to it the more I try).

   The main thing though is we like having books - nothing (to me) beats a book case full of books. I can't explain it but I'd quite happily live in my own little library.
3. Ryan says:

   March 19, 2007 at 9:29 am

   There is more to reading than just the words and story. Simple things like the feel and smell of a book are relaxing to me and help me loose myself in a good story (right now it's 'In Green's Jungles' by Gene Wolfe). I've read a lot off of computer screens both LCD and CRT but I've never sat down with a palm or ebook before to read something lengthy. It's not that I can't say that I wouldn't enjoy it, it's more that since I haven't done it yet I have no desire too and would rather book up a nice paperback book instead.
4. Bayne says:

   March 19, 2007 at 10:50 am

   I have a HiEbook (a discontinued Korean e-book reader) and I love it. I almost never read paper books at all anymore. It has very legible text and a backlight for night reading. The only problem I have with it is that I fall asleep and wake up to the sound of it clattering to the floor after bouncing off my bed and night stand. So far it seems pretty sturdy.
   I understand that people like having books. They like having bookshelves crammed with everything they've read. My idea of a great library is Project Gutenberg on a RAID array. Hmmm...maybe if I made the case out of mahogany...
5. Jupi says:

   March 23, 2007 at 8:40 pm

   Ive tried reading on an xdaiis and from my experience its not quite the same as reading a book. Its actually far from it. But its not necessarily better or worse. its just different. Coming from the statements above, the feel of a book in your hand with its smell and the way you hold it as you flip through it adds to the experience. In a mobile device there is nothing like that at all. Its more of straight forward reading for me.
   But when your in that zone where your into the story of the novel for example and everything blacks out and it seems your watching this movie in your head, i guess reading from a mobile device does not have a difference at all. I guess whatever the way you read something is, how good it is, greatly affects the experience of the reading whether reading from a phone, pc, or a book.

   sorry for the english
6. James says:

   March 26, 2007 at 1:32 pm

   These're the reasons I prefer books to screens: Backlit screens are harsh in the dark, and washed out in the sun. Also, I have yet to come across any device that is the right size. Laptops are too large to curl up with, and PDAs don't have enough room for good reading. This is especially so if there is anything besides text to deal with -- special formatting or images.
7. Phil_S says:

   March 28, 2007 at 3:38 am

   To me, the perfect format is the size of my A4 diary. A little larger than a paperback, smaller than a hard copy book. I will not fit in a pocket, but fits easily in a briefcase or backpack and is big enough for a good screen and a good battery.
   When someone builds a PC or E-book this size I will buy one and it will become my constant companion, as my page-per-day diary is now.
8. Robert_B says:

   April 8, 2007 at 5:33 pm

   So, okay. I think your argument is that people, in general, don't like reading ebooks on a computer because there are too many distractions, unlike with a dead tree edition, where you do nothing but read. Early adopters need not apply. I read books in places that I don't use my machine: on the toilet, in bed, on a plane, in a waiting room. When I'm on the net, I'm on the net, not reading a book. I consider the two activities mutually exclusive, and I wouldn't read a book on a computer for exactly the reasons you argue, but that's not because I'm a Luddite.

   As of yet, there is no comfortable form factor that will both satisfy my urge to read a novel uninterrupted AND surf the net. Also, I will be the first to buy an ebook reader that is comfortable, legible under direct sunlight, nonDRM-enforcing, multiformat, high-capacity, high-resolution, and paper-back sized. Every year around December I start looking for one. Haven't found one yet, but they're getting closer every year. Add in net access and you have a dream machine, but please let me run the thing full screen, no interruptions.
9. Alec says:

   April 23, 2008 at 5:46 pm

   I am very much interested in the debate about reading from computer screens as I'm the print manager for a large Australian university. Does anyone recommend a formal research paper that articulates the auguments for and against publishing via hard copy vs the web?

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