I definitely read less long-form. Fewer books. But now when I do read a book, at the same time I read reviews and discussion surrounding the book, listen to podcasts of lectures by the author, and engage in discussion of the book. So it's a different experience. A more three-dimensional and engaged experience.

Once the technology improves to the point where the screen is as good as paper — as light and flexible and clear and bright, and with long-lasting batteries — then I can imagine switching.

I am no techno-utopian, however. Then, I fear, my reading can be controlled and monitored. I can be charged per-word or per-page or per-minute or per-hour. Technology can control me as easily as it can free me!

It may not matter so much, if the reader is after data, news reports or factual information. But literature is just not literature in the same way on the screen as it is in your hand. When you physically hold a book, it becomes a part of you in a way staring at a screen never can. Keeping a book on a shelf extends the relationship.

Books on a shelf are like photos in an album. They keep you close to previous parts of a life. I associate each book with the period when I bought it and first discussed it. I have more trouble remembering when I've re-read books, because the first reading is more emotionally meaningful, even when rereeadings offer more intellectually.

Besides that, you just can't curl up with a screen on a rainy day like you can with a book.

He should learn English. There are no new rules. (verb vs. noun)