Digital Books
Apr 03
I never would have guessed I’d be writing this, but I’m beginning to prefer reading from my iPhone over reading a paper book. For the past six months or so, I’ve done all my devotional Bible reading from the YouVersion Bible App, and I just finished reading my second book on the iPhone Kindle App (BTW, it was Tribes by Seth Godin – an amazing little book on leadership).
I think I like it so much because:
- I’ve always got my book with me since it’s on my phone
- the backlight is really nice – I can easily read in the dark
- I can have a new book on my phone within minutes of placing my order in the Amazon Kindle store
- It’s more eco-friendly
- I could be wrong, but it seems like there is less strain on my eyes
Makes me think that there will probably be a day soon when everybody does most of their reading on a handheld device.
6 Comments
Regarding the eye strain, my optometrist told me the biggest problem is the angle in which you are reading. This will not apply with a handheld device because you will be looking down as you would be when reading a book, however when viewing a computer monitor, you should be viewing it at a downward angle rather than directly in front of you.
I have become quite fond of my Dell Mini 9. Not so fond of using the PDA phone a lot because a 2.2 pound netbook is not that bad. http://forums.slickdeals.net/showthread.php?sduid=165415&t=1259013
Also, Pastor Chris has a point about being about to write notes in a bible and pass it along to someone, your kids for example. So I have not been using an electronic bible. I like to write in mine.
I use the free ESV Bible Kindle on my ipod touch for my lunch time bible reading. It’s great. It’s actually a good conversation starter too. If someone sees you reading a paper bible (or analog bible), they’re not going to ask you about it. For some reason everyone wants to know what you’re up to when using pda, ipod/iphone, or really any hand held electronic device. It offers a great chance to let them know about what you’re learning from God’s word.
Mike, that’s very interesting. Good point about having a marked up Bible too.
Chris, that’s cool. It’s really neat to see the accessibility of God’s Word opened up through new technology.
I don’t know if I could ever get used to not holding the book in my hands.
i like to read in the bathroom, actually, most of my most prolific reading takes place there…therefore, i don’t want to take my “phone” into the lou with me everytime…since i’ll be using it all day. with a celluloid book, i can check it out from the library, read it (in bathroom), and return it…no germs to worry about.
Lan, you still have to hold it, and even flip the pages (on the Kindle, at least. Some of the others work like teleprompters – scroll speed depends on the angle of the screen), but I know what you mean. It’s a little different, at first, until you get pulled into the book and don’t notice anymore.
Brad, remind me not to borrow books from you.