How we read

View Larger MapRecently, I tweeted about reading Steven Johnson’s book, The Ghost Map.  It’s a book that ties in with my PNSQC paper in a very odd way which I’ll write about later.  What I noticed as I was reading, is that the way I read has changed.  The Ghost Map is about a cholera outbreak in London during late August/early September of 1854.

Even though I’m only 1/5 through the book, I’ve already looked up all of the places on Google street view.  This is a new and an old thing for me.  Whenever I’ve read books about a certain location, the next step, for me has always been to find a map of the location and take a good look.  This time, not only can I see the layout of the streets, but I can see what they look like “on the ground.”  Johnson writes about how crowded the streets are and about the dense population of the area.  If you look at streetview, this is immediately noticeable.

Although my copy of this is book is a dead-tree copy, I have to wonder how my experience would change if I had an e-Reader.  With the current paradigm shift taking place from dead-tree books to e-readers, I expect that books themselves will change and will allow the reader different ways to explore their content.  This, in turn, will create different expectations from those who are reading.  I won’t be going from my dead-tree book to my computer to look at the Soho area of London.

Some of you may have used Zemanta for blogging.  Zemanta sits next to the window where I write text in my blog and makes suggestions for pictures and links while I type.   Although, at this point in time, I use Zemanta for writing, I can see a Zemanta like integration for reading as well.  One of the first chapters in The Ghost Map describes clergyman Henry Whitehead making his rounds through the neighborhood.  I’d love to see a map next to the text that I am reading which shows the route he is taking or pictures of some of the places he is visiting.

Language is its own art form.  You can’t just replace a book with a bunch of pictures and links, but there is more than one way to explore writing.  The best writers, I believe, will find ways to integrate the language of their writing with the exploratory journeys their readers take.

Have you noticed differences in the way you read?  How do you think reading will change as we move from paper to e-readers?  If so, I’m very interested in hearing about it.