[This post initiates a proposed weekly series on what I call “Sunday thoughts” -- that is, thoughts that are suitable for brains that are on idle. Please give me some feedback on whether I’m totally or just partially wasting my time. Keep to yourself the comment that you can't distinguish these from my other posts.]
I’ve already mentioned that I’m reading on Kindle this summer, still liking it. Now I’m thinking about what broader social effects Kindle-type products might have if they catch on.
One thought was triggered by a book I’m now reading on Kindle: Mark Haddon’s A Spot of Bother (a great book, despite its dismissal by some critics who either don’t appreciate fine characterization or have decided to compensate for their wild praise of Haddon’s first book, Curious Incident).
A character in Haddon's book generally reads trashy novels at home. But when he’s reading in coffee shops, he takes along Daniel Dennett’s Consciousness Explained, not because he likes the book (he doesn’t like or even comprehend it) but because it makes a better impression on passers-by.
Can’t do that with a Kindle, which looks the same whatever you're reading. Of course you can always put an anonymous cover on a book, but most people don't take that extra step.
So I wonder if e-books become more popular whether sales of challenging or other public-worthy books will decline, while trashy or other private-worthy books become more popular. Or maybe they'll figure out a way to clothe the appliance with the cover of the book the user is currently reading, which would itself be a telling development.
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