The Deep Space of Digital Reading
Ever since I lost my physical library of books to a fire, I&#x27;ve been an e-reader zealot.  There are so many advantages: instantly start reading virtually book you want, effortlessly take digital highlights and annotations, carry a whole library in your pocket while you travel, read at night while your partner is asleep... I could go on.<p>As an e-reader evangelist, I&#x27;ve encountered all kinds of resistance.  In fact, it&#x27;s the norm.  There is a widespread emotional, aesthetic attachment to physical books.  To me, it&#x27;s purely irrational.  My favorite author, Nassim Taleb, tries to explain it:<p>&gt; Whenever I sit on an airplane next to some businessman reading the usual trash businessmen read on an e-reader, said businessperson will not resist disparaging my use of the book by comparing the two items. Supposedly, an e-reader is more “efficient.” It delivers the essence of the book, which said businessman assumes is information, but in a more convenient way, as he can carry a library on his device and “optimize” his time between golf outings. I have never heard anyone address the large differences between e-readers and physical books, like smell, texture, dimension (books are in three dimensions), color, ability to change pages, physicality of an object compared to a computer screen, and hidden properties causing unexplained differences in enjoyment.<p>The only shortcoming of e-reading, in my opinion, is the inability to display the books you&#x27;ve read and the books you want to read somewhere in your home or office.  You can tell so much about a person by their library.  I&#x27;ve been testing some solutions to this problem.