Considering an iPad? Ten Reasons iPad Makes Sense for Reading

I noticed recently at my book club that I was the only one in the group who chooses to read the monthly selections on a screen (iPad).  When I brought this up, most of my friends commented they feel reading just isn’t the same without real pages to turn.  Other reasons for choosing paper and binding included a need to physically experience progress through the book, as documented by the movement of the bookmark, and feeling the weight of the book in one’s hands.  I countered by saying that I was actually happy to have not had to deal with the heft of Stephen King’s 849 page tome 11/22/63, we were discussing that evening.

I can’t argue with my friends’ points, but I’ve found so many positives to reading on my iPad that I have a hard time reading any other way these days.   It’s amazing how much it’s simplified reading for me and has helped to make me a more prodigious reader.   So allow me to share my top ten reasons for reading on an iPad:

10) Ability to access to thousands of free public domain books, that are all just a click away.  Check out some of  Project Gutenberg’s 40,000 public domain books.  In addition, over 100,000 free ebooks are available from Project Gutenberg affiliates.

9) Ability to download and “borrow” ebooks from public libraries, which means no more physically picking up or returning books.

8) Ability to read while you are attending to household tasks like cooking.   I just prop my iPad and read away while I’m chopping veggies.  Turning pages is as easy as a simple tap on the page.

7) Ability to purchase books anywhere there is an internet connection.  Another benefit is that ebooks are typically less expensive than their hard or soft cover counterparts. Also key is access to hundreds of books, articles (in pdf format ) and magazines any time and any place and no trees needing to be killed to give me access to them.

6) Ability to read while I am exercising on the treadmill, stepper or stationary bike.  The iPad’s thin tablet shape makes it perfectly sized for resting on the thin ledge of a treadmill and it is light enough to easily hold while sitting on a stationary bike.

5) Ability to borrow iBooks within your local intranet.  I can easily upload any iBook that anyone else in my family has purchased.  My husband is a voracious reader and I’ve borrowed enough books from him to keep me in reading material for many years.

4 ) Ability to highlight to my heart’s content and take detailed notes without ruining the book.  I’m a big kinesthetic reader, meaning that I highlight extensively and often jot down a significant number of notes in the margins.  In iBooks I can not only highlight and take notes, but I can access a list of all of the items I highlighted and notes I took, which makes writing papers and blogs so much simpler.   I also never have to worry about ink bleeding through low quality paper.

3) Ability to instantly get the definition of a word just by clicking on it, which has helped me learn a number of new words, like my favorite word from 11/22/63 – “obdurate”, meaning “stubbornly refusing to change one’s opinion or course of action.”

2) With the night theme on, which reverses the screen so you are reading white print on a black screen, I have the ability to  read in bed in the middle of the night without waking my husband.  During the day I can choose whether I want to read with black ink on white paper or sepia ink on off-white paper.  I can also change screen brightness at any time.

1) And the number one reason for reading on my iPad, today at least, is that I can make the font really large when my eyes are dilated.  Can you tell I’m off to the eye doctor in a few minutes?

Assuming you’ve not been obdurate about the switch from a paper to screen,  what are your favorite reasons for reading on your iPad or ebook reader?