Reading and Kindle

A post, “Steve Jobs on Reading,” on Tropophilia caught my eye when I saw it on my Tag Surfer. What really grabbed my attention was what Steve Jobs, commenting on Amazon’s Kindle, said about reading (in the US) in his conversation with The New York Times:

It doesn’t matter how good or bad the product is, the fact is that people don’t read anymore,” he said. “Forty percent of the people in the U.S. read one book or less last year. The whole conception is flawed at the top because people don’t read anymore.”

And I thought the Kindle was such a good idea, especially for the more mobile population nowadays. (Heck, if I had the money I’d order me a Kindle.) I was thinking that reading from a Kindle would be such a welcome change from reading ebooks from my PDA.

Of course, I understand how Steve Jobs would make such a comment. He has his iPhone and iTouch and MacAir to sell.

With the Steve Jobs quote, Tropophilia threw this question: “Are books on the way out?”

Less people are into reading, that may be true. Or is it?

In my experience, I say this may be true. I know that some of my students stopped reading when they graduated from college and started working. Young professionals would rather sink their hard-earned money into the latest gadget — cell phones, laptops, PDAs, MP3 players, etc.

So how would Kindle fare in such a market? Hmmm. Perhaps they’ll get back into their reading habit if they have their books at a push of a button?

But I also know that some of my former students buy novels for pastime reading. Not the books I would have wanted them to read if they were still in my Literature class, but books they love to consume. But reading, they are.

Back at Tropophilia the conversation took several turns, with more questions being asked than answers given. Perhaps you’d like to have your own say on the matter.