Changes in the Nature of Reading?

[Umbran]

(And yeah, we'd argue recent writers, like Donaldson or Niven or Herbert back then too, but we'd also argue psychology, and literature, and poetry, and science, and art and religion, and so forth.)

Okay, so, when Niven, Donaldson, and Herbert were "recent" was, what, 20 or 30 years ago? I mean, Herbert *died* in 1986. You're talking about authors who were "recent" before the internet as we know it today.

So, are you seeing a change that is specifically tied to very recent new technologies in reading, or something more related to the fact that it is a couple to few decades later, and/or tied to the other entertainment technologies developed in that time.

For those of you who own electronic readers. How many volumes can you store on your device? Can you accumulate a whole library on there? And do you accumulate any, or even a lot of books you never read, or have yet to read?

My wife's Nook as, I think, 1 GB of memory for storage (expandable to 32 GB). But, eBooks in the ePub format are often small - many of the things she got from project Gutenberg are around 0.5 MB, but file sizes range often sit in the 1 to 5 MB range. That's still hundreds of books before we add any memory. Yes, you can put a library on there. My wife in a fast pass put a couple dozen books on there, to be sure she had a stack waiting in there.

It can carry enough books that it has features to help you organize (in "shelves") your collection in an intuitive fashion.

Oh, and the Nook uses epub format - that's the standard format that libraries use for lending ebooks. So, my wife can also draw on the Minuteman and Boston Public Library collections for reading materials.

All that being said, I personally am not looking to get an e-reader any time soon. My reading patterns are not the same as my wife's. It makes sense for her to have the device, but not so much for me, so I'll still be buying physical boks.

 

[Jhaelen]

Instead, I find myself reading stuff on the 'Net - short stories and various geek news articles - because, reasonable or not, I feel that they're more transient, and that if I don't read them now, they'll be buried under the weight of Internet dross, unlike my books, which sit safely on my bookshelf, easily found should I ever need them.

And my reaction is the exact opposite: I don't care much about articles and blogs on the internet _because_ they're so transient. If they're buried and forgotten one or two years after being written, apparently they weren't all that relevant, i.e. they failed the test of time.

If internet publications are still read and regularly recommended to others after a couple of years, then I start to get interested.

 

[Jack7]

Okay, so, when Niven, Donaldson, and Herbert were "recent" was, what, 20 or 30 years ago? I mean, Herbert *died* in 1986. You're talking about authors who were "recent" before the internet as we know it today.

That's about right. I mean, as in teenager and in my twenties (about 30 to 40 years ago) most of my friends read both a lot of literature, and science, and religion, etc. and a lot of modern stuff. (It makes me laugh to think of dying in 1986 as somehow a "death among ancients," but sometimes I forget some of you are really young by comparison - the first computer I saw was a NASA punch card and magnetic tape reel computer.)

But now with e-readers they don't read literature or science or religion much, just sort of new pop releases. (Pop as in popular.) But now that you mention it popular was a lot different concept back then than it is now too.

By the way I was around before the internet period. And I remember it as just a research sharing network among university buddies. Back then anyway. (Humorously I feel like my grandmother explaining to me about the time before television. Now I know why she would laugh when she talked about it.)

So, are you seeing a change that is specifically tied to very recent new technologies in reading, or something more related to the fact that it is a couple to few decades later, and/or tied to the other entertainment technologies developed in that time.

I may be seeing nothing of real importance in the long run. Don't know yet. Just making an observation about changes in reading habits I suspect may be tied to new technologies. But ya got a really good point with your question. Back when I was a kid there was basically no competition to books at all, short of magazines. (As an information outlet. You had TV news on 3 channels but that wasn't book competition, and most of TV was just entertainment, not info, like you can get today.)

We're living in the first age, it seems to me, where not only is there a huge and wide variety of content to compete for people's limited reading time, but also where there are several different actual methods (books, internet, social media, blogs, message boards, e-readers, cell phones) for delivering content. And I'm suspecting that each method may have it's own particular, or at least preferred "content nebula, or content cluster," or to use the modern vernacular, a preferred "Content Cloud."

 

[Umbran]

By the way I was around before the internet period.

When I was a Boy - Steve Macdonald says it all, I think.

 

[Jack7]

I liked that.

By the way, I take it back. The first real computer I ever saw was my father's Slide Rule. It still hangs on the wall in my bedroom.

After the world ends in 2012 I'm gonna give it to my daughter and tell her, "don't ever plug it in unless ya really have to. Just change the batteries every few decades. And it'll work like a charm."

 

[Janx]

I find this a bit odd because the classics have always been available for free at the local library. It might be that the devices are just that much more convenient or because they are new reading has reached a new level of acceptability.

Who goes to the library?

My wife only reads urban fantasy. Since she got her ebook (2+ years ago), if she can get it on that, she gets that version, instead of print. She does not generally read anything outside her general categories (knitting, pets, urban fantasy). Her categories shift over the years, but this has been true the nearly 20 years I've known her.

We do not get any magazines or newspapers. Once upon a time, I got Dragon magazine, but not since 3e started.

I haven't read a book of any kind or format in over a year. I don't have time. As a technical person, one would think I might buy and read technical books. I do not. Over 10 years ago, it became obvious that any topic I needed to research could be done online (because nerds created the internet, the search engines and the websites, our content is the first to be available on the internet).

I don't sit and read technical articles. I google for things like "aspxgridview redundant callback" and start from there because I have an immediate need to solve a problem.

I suspect the internet in general has changed what people read, moreso than ebooks. Most ebook people are finding they are reading MORE books in their chosen categories, because of the convenience.

For my part, if more people were like me, the industry for non-fiction information books will shrink, because we google up specific problems and answers, rather than buy a "ASP.NET Unleashed" book.

My daily internet reading pattern consists of: check 4 comics I read, read general RPG and off topic on enworld. I only do facebook on my iOS devices as I've seen too much "infected" behavior to trust it on a PC. I can run out of internet pretty quickly. I do not understand how people can surf all day and look up youtube videos.

Side note, studies have already shown that google has already changed our brains. We don't remember facts so much as where to find the facts (what to google for).

 

[Crothian]

Who goes to the library?

I do, three or four times a week. I can try out new authors and different genre and not waste a lot of money doing so.

 

[Janx]

I do, three or four times a week. I can try out new authors and different genre and not waste a lot of money doing so.

Before I went to college, I went to the library a lot. Read lots of books. It was a small town, and they had a generous check out time (1 month).

Around here, it sounds like it's 2 weeks top, and with waiting lists for books, you can expect to have to turn it in to get in the queue again to finish it.

I read 60 pages an hour. So actual reading isn't a problem. having time to read it in a 2 week span is a different matter.

apparently I do have time to waste on enworld though...

 

[Crothian]

Before I went to college, I went to the library a lot. Read lots of books. It was a small town, and they had a generous check out time (1 month).

My library checks out books for a month at a time and with the library systems connected I can get books from across the state so it is rare I can't get the book though sometimes I don't bother. I can request up to 25 items at a time so even if there is a waiting list I don't mind since I have plenty to read in the mean time. DVDs though they only lend for a week and that includes seasons of TV. It can be tough watching a full season in a week.

 

[Jack7]

My library checks out books for a month at a time and with the library systems connected I can get books from across the state so it is rare I can't get the book though sometimes I don't bother. I can request up to 25 items at a time so even if there is a waiting list I don't mind since I have plenty to read in the mean time. DVDs though they only lend for a week and that includes seasons of TV. It can be tough watching a full season in a week.

Same here, but you can renew online and therefore you get books for 2 months and DVDs for a week. I have a big personal library but I know I've read at least fifty times that number trough the library or Interlibrary loan program or through the Library of Congress.

New books you can only keep out for 2 weeks unless you renew. I'll tell ya what else the public library is good for though. Very good. Books on CD (about half my reading is done this way now) and lectures on CD or DVD.

I listen to a lot of lectures and books on CD nowadays.