5 reasons I'm not buying an e-reader just yet

          OK, it’s not exactly a topic about poetry, but since I’ve written some in my short time here on technology and its effect on the written word, I thought it would still be relevant.

          We’ve come now to a time where more and more of the stalwarts who once stood beside me by the gates of the city have fallen to the onslaught of the new promising technology offered by readers such as Nooks and Kindles. They’ve stepped out of the line, deciding to forego their substantial tomes for lightweight, elegant handheld devices. Still standing guard, but now with only a few in front and around me, I can clearly see the flashing lights and sensuous functionality that tempted away so many a brave warrior. I waver. . .

          But I stand firm. Here, in the end, after some contemplation, is why I decided against jumping on the e-reader bandwagon just yet:

1. I still love books. It’s one of the arguments made most strongly by those not yet willing to make the jump to e-readers, but oddly, it’s probably the argument most difficult for them to defend. But yet, there is something to it.

Yes, I know that it’s what’s written inside a book that matters and that that part will stay the same regardless, but still. . . I’ve devoted a large part of my life to books and I’m just not quite ready to make the jump. Plus, without books, scenes like those displayed here – bookshelfporn.com – just wouldn’t be possible.

2. I’m a late adopter when it comes to technology. Particularly considering the speed with which it changes nowadays, I prefer to wait it out on the sidelines a bit to see where the dust settles. I’m also not one who burns through different models or versions of the same technology – so once I finally get something, I plan on sticking with it for a while.

I was tempted to get an e-reader this year because it seemed like maybe it had come to a temporary stopping point where I was comfortable – i.e., it had made great jumps in the technology and the price had come down considerably. However, it seems like many more things might still occur in the next couple of years. For example, the lighting on the color readers might improve, making a purchase of a color reader possible without the annoying glare. Perhaps more importantly, I see the line between reader and tablet continuing to blur, so that in a short time one might get much more functionality out of a very basic reader (capability for email, apps, etc.) than one does today.

3. Hmmmm. . . I can think of no other way to put this one.

In my own personal circle, the few people I know who own e-readers at this time are not the ones I’d most like to emulate. In fact, they can be kind of annoying. I actually know very few very dedicated readers who own e-readers at this point. Most of the people I know who own them are actually more casual readers who are interested in technology. Once that dynamic starts to shift, I think peer opinion might bear more weight with me than it does now. Of course, I think this has much more to do with my limited sample than anything else, but still, it does have some bearing in my own personal decision.

4. Some of the most appealing aspects of an e-reader to me are its benefits to the environment and the reduction of “stuff” in my own personal space. I can save both trees and space.

A nightmare of clutter or a dream come true?

Well, thinking along those lines, there’s still plenty I can do without the aid of an e-reader. Over the course of the years, I’ve gathered many a book from friends, thrift stores, and bargain bins that I have yet to read. Many of these are books I’ll probably just read once and then be willing to pass along to charity. (Not to mention there are some books I’ve read in the past that I’ll likely never read again; I could jettison these as well, if I could just get over my biblio-attachment to them.) By making an effort to read and donate some of these, I can still be doing some service both environmentally and personally.

5. I tend to read some of the more specialized titles (as demonstrated in my interest in poetry). Many of the books I’m interested in are not currently available in e-reader formats, so switching to a reader would not benefit me in these instances. This trend is obviously going to be changing swiftly in the coming years, but for the present, a reader wouldn’t do me much good for many of the books I wish to read.

On a related note, my local library is surprisingly eclectic in its tastes and does often have these volumes on hand in a traditional print format. Thus, by utilizing its criminally underutilized resources, I can read many of the books I want and still be doing my “green” duty.

          I think that about covers the major points of my reasoning. I should point out that this is not a dig at e-readers. On the contrary, I think I’m finally caving to the fact that at some point in the future I will be acquiring one. In this post, I didn’t really say anything about the many benefits of these devices (such as their increasing functionality, the thousands of classic titles available free, the increasing library support of electronic formats, etc.), but maybe I will whenever I get to that point when I decide to purchase one.

          However, that point has not yet arrived for me. I’ll continue, for now, to stay true to my print books. Traditional, yes, but exciting nonetheless.

Love Among the Ruins: Reading Poetry in the Information Age

          These past tumultuous few decades, we have witnessed the rise of the personal computer, the rapid dispersal of the World Wide Web, and the emergence of whatever they’re calling this 4G wireless craziness now. Several different monikers have been applied to this time period – the computer age, the digital age, etc. – but the one that’s always captured my imagination the most is the information age, an apt name for a period that has seen such a dramatic proliferation of data. Long gone are the days of depending solely on such quaint resources as libraries, bookstores, TV, and radio for our information. For those of us lucky enough to have access to what is now fairly basic technology, we now have access to a huge universe of information sources in a wide variety of formats.

          One trend that’s always fascinated me about this age is its effect on our reading patterns. 10-15 years ago, experts were already predicting some of the changes that have indeed begun to take place as a result of being alive in a world awash with data. Gone are the days when an individual’s ability to recall information was held in such high esteem (think of the Medieval monks in the pre-printing press days, whose ability to recall large amounts of tracts were invaluable to the preservation and furtherance of knowledge at the time). The paradigm is shifted. Information now is readily reproduced and easily stored. Our memories have been automated. What’s much more important now then simply recalling information is information literacy – i.e., how good we are at navigating and retrieving stored information. As a result, quantity has begun to replace quality, as people are focusing less on a slow analysis of the individual text and more on a rapid sort and search of huge waves of data.

          All of this is a long-winded way of introducing a topic I’ve been wondering about – the effect of the information age on poetry. In so many ways, poetry is antithetical to the trends coming out of this age. For poetry to be effective, it requires a slow reading and absorption. It does its art on a word-by-word basis, with each individual piece composing an essential part of the completed effect. This is in contrast to current trends that encourage the rapid navigation of large amounts of information in order to comprehend the most essential parts.

          This might all sound like a stretch of a point, but I do believe there’s something there. Overall, reading patterns have been changing the past couple of decades. Trends indicate the overall percentage of people reading books – and literature in particular – is steadily declining. Meanwhile, those people who are reading are more frequently turning to a digital environment and looking at multiple sources. I haven’t seen studies for this last point, but I’m also willing to bet that the art of scanning (as opposed to more focused reading) is on the rise. Personally, I know with all the articles or links I come across or are sent to me just during a normal working day that there’s no way I can read them all and still get any work done. And so I scan.

          In a world that was already turning away from poetry, such trends can surely not help. As Ezra Pound famously said, “Concentration is the essence of poetry.” Controversial as Pound could be in many ways, he was on to something with this point. And though he was speaking of it primarily from the writer’s point of view, to fully appreciate and understand poetry, concentration and focus are required on the reader’s side as well. Why did the poet choose such-and-such a word? How does each word work together? Why break the line here? Why this structure? In everyday writing (that prosaic prose), analysis on such a small scale is not as essential – it’s certainly not a bad idea by any means, just not as essential.

          Speaking of poetry in the information age is interesting because poetry, at its best, is not merely information. It’s attempting to communicate something beyond its surface meaning. As we steer more and more towards consumption of larger quantities of information, are we as a culture losing our ability to fully understand and analyze such deeper meanings in writing?

Or perhaps I’m simply reading too much into this.

          Regardless, there always is the opposite viewpoint to consider. To those who read it, poetry offers a welcome respite from the data glut of the information age. Much as the subject matter in poems is often used to make the reader slow down and think about everyday things in a different light, the language of poetry is such as to bring the reader into a meaningful engagement with language. That same language that the reader slings around thoughtlessly in everyday life is suddenly reinvigorated with a deliberation and intensity that gives one pause. Poetry reminds us that language can be so much more than mere information; it can do wondrous and strange things. . . if only one takes the time necessary to concentrate on it.

          Perhaps there isn’t much to all this. Long before the advent of computers, poetry had already been in a steady decline, and poets themselves have oftentimes appeared to even purposefully isolate themselves from a general readership (one thinks of certain Modernists). There does, however, seem to be some trends in the information age that are poised to hasten this decline. There will always be people who read poetry and are moved by the mysteries of its language, but is there even reason to hope that poetry will ever reverse its trends and achieve more than a small, specialized readership? The cards are stacked against it, at this point. Yet it will be interesting to see how poets and various organizations intent on just such a tide change attempt to stay relevant in a world seemingly intent on making it less so.