Remember when we were kids and some night owl would always want to read until the middle of the night and everybody else would be complaining that the light was still on? I’m not sure that’s a problem any more. In fact, I’m not sure we really need lamps any more. At least not for reading.

It took me a while to come to this realization. In the beginning, I was mainly thinking how much easier it would be to be able to haul a bunch of books around on my phone instead of lugging a big heavy bag. I have always hauled tons of books around even though I don’t always get around to reading them. I married somebody who always hauls tons of books around. And I can remember when Lizard Breath would assemble a stack of books in preparation for our frequent trips to the Westgate Kroger. Because heaven forbid that she would have to survive a 1.5 mile car trip without a variety of reading options.

I don’t exactly remember ever reading in bed with a flashlight. I don’t think I ever had to resort to that. For one thing, I am a *morning* person. Hello. I don’t [usually] stay up late at night. Not even to read. Actually, it is more often the case that I read the same page three or four times and then crash and burn on top of my book and somebody else has to come along and turn out the derned light.

I didn’t actually get into the whole ebook thing until last summer when all the beach folks were reading the book “South of Superior”. I figured that I was probably last in line for any of the hard copies that were floating around. And that was okay, I just downloaded it. My first ebook. A book I didn’t particularly like although it was a heckuva lot better than a certain traveling funeral book that I read a few years ago. Grok grok grok! And, hello. I realized that I could actually read in bed (as long as I lasted without falling asleep over my phone) without bothering anyone who wanted to sleep. And nobody had to come over and turn out my light. And my phone falls asleep too.

I don’t really think that lamps will become obsolete any time soon. If you are a knitter or a quilter or fill-in-the-blank with your hands-on craft or hobby, you need decent light. And I know there are plenty of folks who prefer to read real books printed on paper. I have no argument with that (as long as they don’t keep me up at night). But maybe we at least won’t need quite as many lamps. I’m looking at the ginger jar lamps I have always had a love / hate relationship with… Anybody want them? On the other hand, I’ll probably keep my crazy colored many-headed hydra floor lamps (3, count ’em) for the duration. And the strings of LED xmas lights that are everywhere and can be turned on or off as needed to serve as night lights or provide ambient light or whatever.

One thing that paper books do not do is make noise. When you sleep with your iPhone and don’t turn off the sound, any kind of notification (i.e., “new crossword puzzle is available”) is gonna wake you (and other people) up. And then there was the infamous time that I was actually sleeping peacefully through that bat-scope hour of the morning when we all wake up and know we are gonna die [someday]. Until… Click-click-click click click click click-click. What the heck was that?!? Wide awake… The GG was writing an email or sending a text message or whatever (to whom I do not know… girlfriend maybe? naw, prob’ly not).

Good night and happy reading — whatever your device of choice,
— KW

This entry was posted on Friday, June 1st, 2012 at 9:36 pm and is filed under Uncategorized. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. Both comments and pings are currently closed.