My wife surprised me this past Christmas by giving me an Amazon.com Kindle as a present. Considering how much time I spend with my iPhone and a computer laptop, I did not think she would want one more electronic distraction in my hands. I love the device, and though I prefer the “Incarnational” feel of an actual book in my hands for novels and other substantial reading, I much prefer my Kindle for my subscriptions and journals to an actual newspaper. The daily local paper often languishes at the end of my driveway until I return home at the end of the business day. Thanks to the Kindle, I simply do not read it as my morning ritual any longer and am considering canceling my delivery subscription.

 

Yet beyond quite serious economic ramifications of these new devices and “e-books” on the news industry, I do wonder at the effects of electronic reading on the way I absorb and think on what I read. An article in the Wall Street Journal by Steven Johnson entitled “How the E-Book Will Change the Way We Read and Write” is instructive and worth the time to digest: http://online.wsj.com/article/SB123980920727621353.html

 

Johnson’s central message is that with the advent and consumption of “e-books,” we are distancing ourselves from the greatest human archive of wisdom – books. Johnson also wonders if “e-books” will erode our capacity for deep immersion in story-telling and sustained thinking, leading to a kind of fragmentation of reading habits. “There are certain kinds of experiences and arguments that can only be conveyed by the steady, directed immersion that is a 400 page book.” I agree.