Oh how true [Information Overload]

Boy is this true:

by Jessica Hagy at Indexed

I hate to miss any of the interesting stuff floating out there in the world, so I find my list of "to read" stuff is impossibly long. Not just books, but blog posts, articles, product descriptions, street signs, etc.

Between my email, Google Reader, Read It Later, paper books, ebooks, and on and on, it's a little overwhelming whenever I sit down "to read" unless I have a specific item in mind before I begin.

Once upon a time, I only got that feeling of being overwhelmed when I stepped into a large library. Now it's almost constant. Years ago, who knew we would ever have to plan and structure our reading time (leisure reading or otherwise) in order not to drown?

I Will Read Forever

Yes, it's another video that turns out to be an ad, but I just love the message:



I love the mix of paper books and e-readers in the video. It's how my (and I think a lot of people's) reading happens right now: This one paper, this one electronic, another paper...and so on.

I love ebooks. I love that I don't have to haul a long book with me (War and Peace weighs the same as Winnie The Pooh on my tablet or phone) and the covers don't get torn up in my bag (no matter what I do, that happens). I love that I can make notes and highlight passages and those will be searchable on my device or on the computer next time I need the reference.

But until issues like DRM and the ten bazillion formats we have right now get ironed out, I haven't turned my back on paper completely. But I'm definitely moving steadily in the direction of "all ebooks, all the time": I donated 11 grocery bags of books to my library's book sale this month and then moved the largest bookshelf in the house into my daughter's room because she has more print books than I do now.

These days, if I can only get a book in print, I do my darnedest to get it from the library. All the bookshelves in the house are still full, despite that purge, and I'm not buying any more to accommodate the few stacks that still make up part of that never-ending mess in the basement - more have to go, and no more are coming in until they do. But ebooks get a pass because they only take up virtual space. The virtal-ness of ebooks might be my favorite thing about them. (Don't worry, I still have an entire bookcase of antique books I can open up and inhale the "book smell" from - I think I'll always need that)

How are you doing your reading these days? All paper? All electronic? Or, like me, a mix of both?

Video link

Did you get an e-reader for Christmas?

Whether you got a Kindle, or one of the other e-readers, or even an iPod, iPhone, iPad or an Android device, you probably want to start filling it with books. I don't have an e-reader, but I've put the free e-reader apps on every compatible device I've got, and I found Books on The Knob to be very helpful in finding free and bargain books to (over)fill my virtual TBR pile.

Just pay attention to which format the book is free for - sometimes it's free for one type of reader, but not another (e.g. free at B&N, but not at Amazon) or sometimes it's only free in a certain country. And she usually updates when something she listed is no longer free, but I've missed it & accidentally paid for a book before (Darn 1-click! My husband just nods and goes "Yeah, 'accidentally,' suuuure"), so there's that to look out for.

I love finding free books. I've found some great stories through BoTK I wouldn't have picked up otherwise. I've also grabbed one or two which I didn't care for and then removed from my collection, but since they were free I was only out some time, not cash.

Photo by goXunuReviews