Fascinating information. You really captured my attention when you noted that we don't visualize page location when we read a book from a device. When I REALLY want to comprehend something, I get the old-fashioned book. I've tried several times to convert to the digital book format, but I still prefer paper in hand. I am definitely one who visualizes the page location of certain material in books.
I enjoyed your post, and I look forward to reading more of your work. Thank you for writing this excellent article!
Sounds like we process information in a similar way. I've even had the fantasy for many years of having an extensive, physical library, where I can extend that visualization to where a certain book is in the room. "That point was made in a book somewhere over there, in the final third of the book in the bottom left" kind of thing.
Anyway, thank you for reading and for your comment.
I have always thought of the e-book as having similar but improved properties to the paper book. However, I now think that you might be right, and that it carries some disadvantages compared to the paper book.
I usually read in english, french, or spanish (the latter being my mothertongue), so I always prefer to read on an ebook because of how easy it is to underline a word and see its meaning on the dictionary (specially when I'm reading in french). Reading on a paper book would mean needing to have my smartphone beside me to check the dictionary (which I don't like because it's distracting), or using a paper dictionary, which would probably make me stop looking up so many words and trying to understand them with context (sometimes even telling myself that probably it is not that important to understand this specific sentence to grasp the meaning of the paragraph). Moreover, I cannot carry a dictionary everywhere I go (for example when I read on the train).
I was wondering how would you suggest to attack our digital devices? Or our children's? I am currently trying different alternatives and would like to hear more alternatives to it.
This is the first comment I post on substack and I would not like to forget to tell you that this is one of the most interesting publications I have found.
Thank you for your comment, it's much appreciated. You bring up an interesting, special case in which an E-reader might be better than a physical book because of the need for so much translating. And, of course, E-readers are much different now than when they first came out; one day they might offer an entirely better experience than physical books for every type of reader. At the same time, I think it's fair to say that you'll remember words better that you used the context to figure out, rather than looked up immediately. Anyway, something to experiment with.
As for ways to attack digital devices, we'll be writing about this in some future posts, so stay tuned! That said, we aren't experts in this area and there is already a wealth of information out there, so feel free to look around and let us know if you find anything worthwhile. Happy reading :)
More articles about evolutionary mismatch please! Such a great topic. Thank you!
Don't worry, I won't stop beating this drum :)
Six-cent-mihaly (Kahneman, _Thinking, Fast and Slow_, p. 40) 😉
Fascinating information. You really captured my attention when you noted that we don't visualize page location when we read a book from a device. When I REALLY want to comprehend something, I get the old-fashioned book. I've tried several times to convert to the digital book format, but I still prefer paper in hand. I am definitely one who visualizes the page location of certain material in books.
I enjoyed your post, and I look forward to reading more of your work. Thank you for writing this excellent article!
Sounds like we process information in a similar way. I've even had the fantasy for many years of having an extensive, physical library, where I can extend that visualization to where a certain book is in the room. "That point was made in a book somewhere over there, in the final third of the book in the bottom left" kind of thing.
Anyway, thank you for reading and for your comment.
I found this article really interesting.
I have always thought of the e-book as having similar but improved properties to the paper book. However, I now think that you might be right, and that it carries some disadvantages compared to the paper book.
I usually read in english, french, or spanish (the latter being my mothertongue), so I always prefer to read on an ebook because of how easy it is to underline a word and see its meaning on the dictionary (specially when I'm reading in french). Reading on a paper book would mean needing to have my smartphone beside me to check the dictionary (which I don't like because it's distracting), or using a paper dictionary, which would probably make me stop looking up so many words and trying to understand them with context (sometimes even telling myself that probably it is not that important to understand this specific sentence to grasp the meaning of the paragraph). Moreover, I cannot carry a dictionary everywhere I go (for example when I read on the train).
I was wondering how would you suggest to attack our digital devices? Or our children's? I am currently trying different alternatives and would like to hear more alternatives to it.
This is the first comment I post on substack and I would not like to forget to tell you that this is one of the most interesting publications I have found.
Greetings from Spain!
Thank you for your comment, it's much appreciated. You bring up an interesting, special case in which an E-reader might be better than a physical book because of the need for so much translating. And, of course, E-readers are much different now than when they first came out; one day they might offer an entirely better experience than physical books for every type of reader. At the same time, I think it's fair to say that you'll remember words better that you used the context to figure out, rather than looked up immediately. Anyway, something to experiment with.
As for ways to attack digital devices, we'll be writing about this in some future posts, so stay tuned! That said, we aren't experts in this area and there is already a wealth of information out there, so feel free to look around and let us know if you find anything worthwhile. Happy reading :)