I read entire cyberpunk novels on the 4-line screen. Before the advent of smartphones, certain models could already connect to the Internet via the Wireless Application Protocol (WAP, not to be confused with the 2020 song, best enjoyed in Ben Shapiro’s voice ).

Wasn’t the most convenient way of reading but, as the Russians say, “when there’s no fish, crayfish will do”. His books were hard to get in the early 90s, so my mom photocopied and bound all of his major titles. Carlos Castaneda was considered to be a wise and inspirational author in my rather secular household. I also used it to write my Douglas Adams fan fiction. I read the entire Lord of the Rings + Silmarillion saga hunching over my outdated battle station. Pondering the question of format, I remembered the many different ways I read things growing up. But I wouldn’t join the camp of strawmen claiming that “e-books are sub par” and “nothing can replace the smell of an old book”, even if that camp had cookies. And yes, I’d probably be more excited seeing an article of my own published in a nice printed journal than on some portal peppered with banner ads.

Sure, it’s more convenient to read a longer piece on my Kindle than on my cumbersome Lenovo laptop. At the same time, my scratch-ridden phone screen doesn’t seem to devalue the poems read on it. I don’t seem to get a special kick from touching old paper. Surprisingly, the difference in experience is not that significant. Do I download the article/story as a PDF, change it to EPUB in Calibre and send it to my Kindle? Do I print it out? Do I just read it on my laptop or even phone screen? Or do I hunt down the only collection where this particular piece ever appeared in print? Since I started the Ray Bradbury Challenge (reading 1 story, 1 poem, 1 essay every day) a few weeks ago, the question of “How to read X?” or “Where can I find Y?” have become everyday concerns. So, if such minute details can change our perception of textual information, can the thing we’re reading the text on do that as well?

Calibre kindle 2017