What's the Best Way to Read a Book? + Giveaway
Today I resume a series on books and reading I started back in February on How to Become a Better and More Discerning Reader. In Part One, I set the stage for the rest of the series and included a reference to two articles from Michael Hyatt and Tim Challies about the merits of physical books versus ebooks.
Today I want to help you think through your own preferred format of reading. What’s better: hard copies of physical books or electronic copies read on a Kindle or iPad? The answer up front, is “yes.” Sometimes I believe there are benefits to reading a hard copy of a book, and sometimes there are benefits to electronic reading. Every upside for one is a downside for the other. Below I will lay out some benefits to each and then share how I decide which format to read. Plus I share one other method of "reading" I find especially useful.
Stick around to the end of the post and I will fill you in on a GREAT giveaway I'm doing this week!
First, the benefits of the ebook:
Ebooks are completely searchable. Looking for a word or the first time a character is referenced in a book? Simply type it in the search box and you find all the references within seconds.
Word definitions: With one touch, you can look up the definition of a word or even some Wikipedia background on people, places or things.
You can carry a literal library of books (thousands of volumes) in the palm of your hand. Just like Steve Jobs sold the iPod years ago by saying you can carry a 1,000 songs in the palm of your hand, so can you do with books and the e-reader.
Removing clutter. When you own many ebooks, you are able to avoid piles and piles of hard copies of books.
Multi-tasking: One of the reasons why I love my Kindle is because I can read while I use the elliptical or if I am walking on a treadmill. Sometimes I see people reading a hard copy book on the elliptical or treadmill, but it is much easier to read on a Kindle than a hard copy.
For moms and dads of newborns/babies: The Kindle is great for times of nursing and rocking babies. You can hold the baby in one arm and your Kindle in the other. E-Readers allow for easier one-handed reading.
Ebooks can show you popular highlighted passages. I like the community aspect of ebooks since you get to see what particular parts of a book encourage or challenge others. Often it shows you passages that are most often highlighted by others as well as a count so you know how many others highlighted a passage. NOTE: You might need to turn on/enable this feature in your ebook reader.
If you are married, you like to read at night and your e-reader has some back lighting (i.e. like the Paperwhite or iPad), there are less distractions if your spouse is trying to sleep since you don’t need to turn a light on to read (like you would have to do with a hard copy).
Second, the benefits of the hard copy:
A lot of the guys I polled (present company included) referenced the advantage of holding a hard copy of a book in your hands. I like the tangible feel of a book in my hand, being able to run my fingers across the page and physically underline a book with a pen or highlight with a highlighter.
I don’t know if there is scientific proof of this, but a bunch of the guys I polled shared how underlining or making comments in a hard copy book seems to make it easier to remember than if you comment/highlight in an ebook. If the goal of reading is in part to learn and share with others rather than consume, than this should be a significant factor in deciding your reading format.
You can very easily hand out copies of a book, and when you do, the reader can see your underlines, comments and highlights.
Along those lines, you can make (as one friend called it) a personal time capsule. It’s so simple (on the inside of a hard copy) to write down when, why and with whom you read a book. This is especially helpful if I end up reading a book multiple times with different groups of people. I might even choose to use one color pen for each time I read a book. This makes it especially easy to tell what I learned each time I read it (#nerdalert).
With your hard copy of books, you create a library that you can easily see at any time and others have full access to your library as well. This makes it easier to share books and discuss books with others.
One friend said its almost like mounting a deer head on the wall when you finish a book.
One of the problems with your ebooks is that they are out of sight and out of mind. While this does help with clutter, I often forget what ebooks I have on my Kindle since I don’t see them on a consistent basis.
Context: There might be some dispute on this, but it seems much easier to understand context of a hard copy than in an ebook. It’s so easy to flip through and see the table of contents, sections, and chapters in a hard copy than an ebook.
In addition, I find it much easier to find my notes in a hard copy of a book over an ebook. I often can remember exactly where on a page I left a note or comment.
I am much less distracted when I read a hard copy of a book. I don’t have to worry about a text message, email or tweet trying to interrupt my attention. No hard copy of a book has ever dinged or buzzed at me.
Recommendations:
To avoid distractions, read on a dedicated e-reader like a Kindle E-Reader, Paperwhite or Oasis as opposed to reading on a iPad. There are too many other apps, emails, text messages and browsers that can pull you off task on an iPad or Kindle Fire.
If you like to make comments or underlines in an ebook, it’s much easier to make comments while reading/typing on your computer than on a Kindle reader or even an iPad.
I read in a hybrid of forms. Sometimes I read hard copies, sometimes I read on my Kindle and sometimes on my iPad.
Because of my job as a marriage pastor on Watermark’s staff, I like to have hard copies of marriage books. I make a lot of comments in the margins and I often like to pull these books out and refer to them. Almost 100% of the time I read hard copies of marriage books.
Price: Sometimes I can find electronic books for free or for a few bucks. Check out sites like Gospel eBooks or Modern Mrs Darcy for daily Kindle deals.
Sports or fiction books. These are books that I know I won’t underline or comment in and are great to read while working out (as referenced in #5 above in the benefits of ebooks section).
A Third Way to "Read"
One other recommendation for you when it comes to reading. Check out audio books. No, I’m not talking about books on tape (some of you won’t even know what that means) or even books on CD’s. I prefer and love buying books on Audible or Christian Audio. A few thoughts on audio books:
They allow you to multi-task. I listen to a book while I workout, drive or while I do stuff around the house.
You can listen at a faster speed. Again, the goal isn’t just to finish the book, but I like to listen to books at a faster speed, especially if it’s a book I am “reading” for pleasure.
You can find some good deals on both Audible and Christian Audio. I suggest trying out Audible on a free trial. Depending on the season and promotion they are running, you can get one or two audio books for free with an Audible trial. Here are a few other Audible benefits:
Cheap audio versions for many books if you already own the ebook.
Daily deals that anyone can purchase, member or not. This is a great way to try the service.
They sometimes do sales for members only.
I love this aspect: they offer a “great listen guarantee”: if you don’t like an audiobook, just exchange it—with no questions asked.
Many public libraries also offer free audio books through an app called Overdrive. Check it out at your public library!
Giveaway Time!
My friend Jeff Parker just started a company called Double Edged Notes. Check
out his site and the awesome journal he created. Today I will give away a few journals (great for taking notes! See above). Leave a comment on Facebook or in the comments section on what you prefer and why: hard copies, ebooks, or audio books? I will randomly pick some winners from the comments that come in.
Okay... I know. Long post today. But, hopefully this helps you think through how you read what you read. In Part 3 I will share some best practices of reading from some of the experts!
Your Turn:
If you haven’t read them yet, check out the articles by Tim Challies and Michael Hyatt.
What are the types of books you know you’d prefer to take notes in as opposed to books that would be easier to read while working out or while nursing?
Figure out what you prefer. This is your decision to make and there is clearly no right or wrong answer. Which type of note taking seems to better grab and maintain your attention? Neither hard copies of books nor ebooks nor audio books are going away anytime soon, so choose what you prefer or move forward with a hybrid system like I use.
Participate in the Giveaway from Double Edged Notes.