E-Book Reading Trends

You’re listening to A Way with Words, the show about language and how we use it. I’m Grant Barrett.

And I’m Martha Barnette.

Remember when Amazon released its first Kindle? It was November 2007, five years ago.

And remember what that was like, Grant? They were big and bulky, and Oprah had one, and they were sort of an excuse to start a conversation, because if you saw somebody reading one in public, right, you would go over and have a look over their shoulder, right?

Well, at the time, some people fretted that printed books would soon go the way of the quill pen, and some people were even predicting that, say, by 2015, traditional books would be gone forever.

But what research is showing is that hardcover books are surprisingly resilient.

And only 16 percent of Americans have actually purchased an e-book, and almost 60 percent say they have no interest at all in buying one.

So it sounds like the reports of the death of the book are greatly exaggerated.

Right. It sounds like, from what I’ve seen, that readers are just reading more, right?

Yes.

It’s easier for you and me, people like us who read a lot, to read anywhere we are.

So it’s a great enabler.

Yeah, that’s a good word for it.

And it’s like a different flavor of book.

It’s just an adjunct, you know?

Yes, exactly.

Just one more medium that can contain text.

You know, I went and bought a Kindle, and I was really excited about it.

And I find that the real thing I use it for now, though, is just if I want to get a book really quickly.

I mean, I’ll read a classic on a Kindle like Moby Dick or whatever.

But it’s really more of a function of getting quick access to something I don’t really necessarily prefer it anymore.

That’s really revealing, actually, right?

You think?

What, then I’m really impatient?

Well, you probably are like a lot of other people.

The expediency is important.

Oh, definitely.

You have such a desire to read that it has to happen right now.

I’ve got to have it.

But you have that, too, with your phone.

I mean, you’re reading in the post office, right, on your phone.

Right, and I have a new phone with a bigger screen.

It actually looks like a coffee table without legs.

And it’s easier still.

And I have the Kindle app and the Google Play app, and I have a third-party e-reader program.

And so they all have their different formats of books.

And, yeah, I’m totally reading books on it.

Yeah.

But you’re also reading hardback books as well, right?

Of course, yes.

So call off the funeral, right?

Yeah, exactly.

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