Every once in a while, I read something that sticks with me and reverberates in my mind. That was my reaction when I read E.L. Doctorow’s remarks at the National Book Awards. These are words to savor, chew on, and ponder.
“Victor Navasky, publisher emeritus of The Nation magazine, introduced E. L. Doctorow, the recipient of the Medal for Distinguished Contribution to American Letters. Mr. Navasky recalled that Mr. Doctorow once said: “There is no room for a reader in your mind. You don’t think of anything but the language you’re in.”
“Edgar, I have news for you,” Mr. Navasky said. “You may not have us in mind, but you are in a roomful of your grateful readers.”
Mr. Doctorow took the stage and cooled the mood down with a somber speech on technology, government surveillance and the Internet. (Somewhat uncomfortably, Amazon.com and Google were sponsors of the event.)
“Text is now a verb,” Mr. Doctorow said. “More radically, a search engine is not an engine. A platform is not a platform. A bookmark is not a bookmark because an e-book is not a book.”
“Reading a book is the essence of interactivity,” he added, “bringing sentences to life in the mind.”
Diane Ravitch's blog 
I must say, that is deeply thought out and accurate.
Excellent comments from Mr. Doctorow. Slightly foreboding I’d say. We should pay attention and heed his warning.
I must say that I do a bit of reading on a Nook and my reading experience is essentially the same as reading a “book”
Scott,
See: http://www.scientificamerican.com/article.cfm?id=the-reading-brain-in-the-digital-age-why-paper-still-beats-screens
as to why it isn’t “essentially the same as reading a “book”.
An excerpt from Nautilus in This Week magazine had this to say, “The physical presence of the printed page, and the ability to flip back and forth through them turns out to be important to the to the mind’s ability to navigate written works, particularly lengthy and complicated ones.” We quickly develop mental map of a printed text as if its argument or story were a voyage unfolding through space. A recent experiment with young readers in Norway found that with both expository and narrative works, people who read from a printed page understood the material better than those who read the same material from a screen. The findings are consistent with a series of other studies on the process of reading. Perhaps this is why surveys in the U.S, and other countries found that college students prefer textbooks to electronic ones by wide margins. They say that traditional books are more flexible as study tool, enclurage deeper and more attentive reding, and promote better understanding and retention of the material. As an educator, I am also quick to acknowledge electronic books have important advantages. They are convenient, they provide links to other sources, animations, and interactive features, which can be updated without buying a new book. Electronic textbooks don’t require a whole new reprint every 3-4 years. Further “studies” of averages do not illuminate learners whose most favored intake is electronic. In brief, learning is a big tent, and we need to keep all options open ! !
There is a time and place for everything.
When I listen to a well read book on tape it is like reading it. It was a way to introduce my son, who is dyslexic, to the good children’s literature he couldn’t read himself. In the car he was a captive audience. My daughter used to read along to the tape, book in hand, since she, too, had central auditory processing problems, yet she loved to read.
I love my kindel. I can get books instantly and read to my hearts content with the lights off so I won’t disturb my sleeping family. I can download all the books in a trilogy and read them boom, boom, boom.
I also like to read free google books. This is a little more cumbersome, but doable. It is especially helpful for hard to find books. I’m also a member of the Forgotten Book Club which allows me twenty four hours to download the book of the day – books I might never have known about.
I also like my hardcover and paperback books, especially when my iPad needs charging. I do love the feel (and smell) of paper.
I guess for textbooks I would want both. The electronic version for transport, but the paper version for home use. It is always easier to find something in a written format than to find it online. I really rely on a good index. And I can write notes in the margins.
All formats work for me – but I am an excellent reader who will devour any good book. Whether I download, go to Barnes and Noble or Amazon.com, listen to a tape/CD, watch a movie based on a book, see a play, hold a book or a nook, I’m happy.
I say – bring it on!