And in today’s “sez you!” department, the Telegraph is carrying a denunciation of the Kindle by 78-year-old Booker Prize-winning author Penelope Lively, who admits she might use one if she were traveling or hospitalized, but can’t conceive of using such a device as one’s sole method of reading books.
Declaims Ms. Lively, “It seems to me that anyone whose library consists of a Kindle lying on a table is some sort of bloodless nerd.”
She goes on to lament the decline of reading among the young, whose attention is drawn away by computers, television, and so on. Oddly, neither she nor the Telegraph writers seem to have considered that e-book readers might counteract the drain on the young’s attention span by providing them a way to read e-books that appeals to their gadget lust.
Meanwhile, my retirement-aged father continues to read and enjoy e-books on his recently-acquired Kobo Reader in addition to print. So clearly age is not the sole factor in determining an e-reader’s suitability.
(Found via the Guardian Books Blog.)
Its funny how people react to ebook readers. I’d almost speculate that reading the old fashioned way is a form of elitism.
This type of attitude makes no sense to me.Reading is reading, whether in a paper book or an ebook. The content is the same, only the delivery system is different.
That’s about as intelligent as Ray Bradbury’s attitude. *Anything* that promotes reading, you know, the linear kind, the type of reading that requires an attention span – anything that promotes this activity should be praised to the heavens. Bloodless my *ss !
Ah, there’s nothing like a 78 year old grouch for stirring up controversy. Everyone’s opinion is valid, but I am one of the bloodless nerd hear. And I’ve been able to read so many more books since I went electronic. I would never have bothered to drop a book in my purse when I go out. I do put my iPod touch in there and I read when I have an opportunity.
Just goes to show that neither longevity nor winning a prize will stop you from saying something stupid.
what january says… …nor from being stupid. i wonder what she’d have said about the invention of the fork.
hmm when I read this in the Guardian, I interpreted the comment differently. If you limited your reading choice to the still-small percentage books available to your ereader, then you would miss out on a lot of fabulous works that are available in other forms.