Life of a Multi-Book Reader and Why I Haven’t Bought an E-Reader Yet

Barnes and Noble loves to see me walk in the door, because chances are, I am going to walk out with two or three books every time I visit. I have shelves of books that are on my “to-read” list. I am a multi-book reader. I usually have five or six books going at once. For example, I am currently reading the following titles:

Education Nation: Six Leading Edges of Innovation in our Schools by Milton Chen

The Demon-Haunted World: Science as a Candle in the Dark by Carl Sagan

Junk Science: An Overdue Indictment of Government, Industry, and Faith Groups That Twist Science for Their Own Gain by Dan Agin

The Shallows: What the Internet Is Doing to Our Brains by Nicholas Carr

Wrong: Why Experts Keep Failing Us-And How to Know When Not to Trust Them by David H. Freedman

Science as a Contact Sport: Inside the Battle to Save Earth’s Climate by Stephen H. Schneider

Rapt: Attention and the Focused Life by Winifred Gallagher

Yes, I am actually reading all these at once. I did not include my one indulgence title In the Name of Honor by Richard North Patterson, but that is my fun read but I might as well confess and add it to the list.

I have three times as many titles purchased and sitting on my shelf, all lined up to be read. Perhaps I am not normal, but I am a multi-book reader. We have mutlitaskers. You have now met a multi-book reader. I read multiple books at one time. Of course I can’t read them all simultaneously in the since that I have all books open at once, but I will read a bit in one, set it down, pick up the next one and read a bit, set it down, and so on, you get the picture.

Now my reading practices means that when I finish a book, I usually finish four or five at once too. Just this week I finished Clay Shirky’s Cognitive Surplus for the second time. Security vs. Access by Robinson, Brown, and Green which I hope to write a review for in a day or so. I also finished Merchants of Doubt by Naomi Oreskes and Erik Conway.

I really don’t say this to brag. I am a multi-book reader who can’t stop. There’s just too many books out there. Which brings me to the other point of this post, why do I not get an E-reader. My wife wishes I would. The book stacks around the house have been a bone of contention for some time. The truth is, there are two reasons. One, I am still waiting to see who wins the E-book war. Will it be the iPad, the Nook, the Sony E-reader, or the Kindle? I just don’t know, but I almost got burned with the high definition DVD war. I seriously almost bought an HDDVD player, but for some reason I didn’t. As you know Blue-Ray won out, and I have mine and I’m glad I waited. So one reason is I am waiting is to see who will be the winner of the E-Book wars. Secondly, I still look at that Kindle, or Nook, or iPad and something about them is missing. I like falling asleep with a book in my hands. Sometimes the book falls to the floor in the middle of the night, but it survives. Would a Nook survive? I am doubtful. I am afraid I would have to put my Nook down before I fall asleep. My habit is I fall asleep with the language of those sentences flowing into my mind. These e-readers probably wouldn’t last through a single night. The other thing is, I like the smell of a new book. If a Kindle could someone capture that smell, I might show interest.

Well, let me get back to my books. Happy reading everyone.