The recent storm activity that caused electric outages for
days has made me reconsider downloading too many more books on my Nook. I
intend to maintain a sizeable library of real (hard copy) books. E-geeks can
disparage hard copy books as ‘dead-tree editions’ all they want, but I’ll be
the one still reading next time the grid goes down for a week.
I do have good things to say about e-readers. My Nook is
great for traveling. It fits in almost any bag or coat pocket. When I’ve read
everything on it, I don’t have to go out in search of a bookstore – I’m holding
one in my hand. I just download more books.
For my aging hands, the greatest advantage is the comfort of
holding a single, almost weightless page. Holding open a hardcover book has
become too painful, almost impossible, with only one hand; so my lifetime of reading
hardcover books in bed is over. Mass-market paperbacks are easier to hold, as
long as they’re under 400 pages; but they’re still very difficult to hold open
for the hours I want to read. My Nook is perfect for reading in bed – easy to
hold, easy to use, with either hand.
E-readers should have been an easy sell to an aging
population that grew up reading books, but they seem to have been designed by
people who didn’t. Why didn’t my Nook come with an installed light so I could
read in bed? I think the newer models do have lights, but the light should have
been a no-brainer. If you need tech support you have to talk to the “help” at
Nook’s outsourced “service” department. (I’ve never had to call anyone to ask
how to use a book.) I wish my Nook had a dictionary installed, one that I could
easily access while reading. I still need a dictionary within reach to fully
enjoy reading many books. And my Nook start-up is so slow I have to keep a
magazine handy to read while the Nook is opening. Books you just pick up, open and start reading.
And there’s that battery . . . Even when the grid is up and
running, being tied to an electric outlet is the worst aspect of e-readers. You
must remember to plug in your e-reader regularly or this will happen: A year
ago I was near the end of a mystery when the low battery notice popped up.
Okay, I thought, I’ll read faster. I wasn’t fast enough. The thing just died
thirty pages before the denouement. Of a mystery!
As with my iPhone, people told me to charge my electronic
devices in the car. Not so easy. First, you need a compatible charger for the
car “outlet.” And then . . . Did I mention the blizzard? Wind chill temperatures
were in the single digits. And I don’t have a garage. I was supposed to get
bundled up to go out in the cold to shovel my way to the car to sit in my car
for an hour to charge an electronic device? Nope.
Thankfully I don’t have to go out in blizzards to do this
because they still print books and make candles and I have lots of both. There
are few things in this life I can say with absolute certainty and this is one –
no book will ever, ever have a dead battery.
