Review: Reading a book on the iPad

Originally I was going to write a review of the Steve Jobs biography by Walter Isaacson.  But in the end, I can sum it up by saying it was an amazing read and if you have ANY interest in how one man changed so many technological aspects of our lives as we know it, then it’s an insightful read.

But let me get to another point altogether that I spoke about with Sue the other night.

I read this book on the iPad.  That’s right…I took the plunge.  I actually have the physical copy sitting on my favourite reading spot in the house, but I believe I only read the introduction of the book and that’s about it.  That was on a Saturday.

What to do on the Monday morning when I’m leaving for work?  I looked at this weighty tome and thought “Wow.  I do NOT need to be carrying that onto the bus every day for the next few months.”  What options are available to me?

Benoit had emailed me a digital copy of the book and I thought “There’s something sweet about reading a book about Steve Jobs on the very device of his that I love (the iPad).”

So I started my foray into e-reading.  I had dabbled a little in the past.  Comic books mostly…a Sherlock Holmes chapter here and there…I was familiar with some functionality.

But this was 1000 pages of intense reading…on the bus each day for a good solid 30 minutes each way.

And in the end…it wasn’t that bad at all.

Yes, I had cringed at the thought of reading a book on a technological device.  What about the feel of a book in my hand?  What about reading outside?  Would that be a pain in the ass?  What about bookmarks?  Who wants bookmarks to become obsolete!  🙂

Here’s some points of discovery on my part:

Convenience: This is a no brainer.  Did I want to lug a brick around every day with me for a few months, or did I want something a little more convenient?  I already carry my iPad everywhere I go.  Placing a book within it’s memory banks only takes up virtual space, not space in my man purse.

Reading Outside: I would be so engrossed in my book that I would read it from the bus station to my car.  I had to crank up the brightness on the screen (I tend to have it very low to conserve battery power) but in the end, it was good to read.  However, I wonder how it would be on a sunny day on the patio.  Something tells me that the glare from the screen would get on my nerves.  This is definitely one reason that people opt for either a regular book, or an e-ink reader such as the Kindle.  But in the end, it really didn’t do harm to me as I read most of the book on the bus.

Dictionary: The most amazing feature (yet so simple!) while reading the book was the ability to click on a word and look it up in a dictionary!  There were a few words that I had to use this feature on and I thought of how much simpler this would make my life if I could read a French book and have the French dictionary hooked up to it.  I shall have to give it a try to see if it can work that way.

Adding Notes: I don’t know about you, but when I was younger and in school, I hated the thought of running a highlighter through my books, or writing notes.  I did NOT want to harm the pages.  But in the virtual world, not a problem for me!  So if I saw a passage I found interesting, I highlighted it with my finger and added a little note.  What’s neat is that the Table of Content has a neat feature that not only allows you to skip through chapters, but also look at all your notes or bookmarks that you’ve placed in the book.

In the end, I did not mind my experience with the iPad one bit.  It really did not bother me.  So what does this mean for the future?  Unsure.  I have a hard time believing that I would simply purchase an e-book.  How could I lend that out to people?  What would I do with my awesome bookshelves if there were no books on them?  I think what books should do is offer up a free digital copy with the purchase of a hard copy.  Comic books are starting to roll this feature out and I think it’s fantastic.  I can read my book, put it into the box and if I am too lazy to pull it out of the box, I can just go read the e-version.

So if you have thought about reading a book on an iPad, I say go for it and see if you like it or not!  Don’t just stick to one chapter…read an entire book!  Report back!