Better than sliced bread

I’m talking about a Pocket PC.  I tend to resist most new marvels of technology. My Pocket PC (PPC) is an exception. I’ve had one for the last three years and we’ve been inseparable. I don’t use it for songs or video or even storing my address book. I just use it for one thing and one thing alone, reading books.
I am a voracious reader. Anything will do. If I foresee a few minutes of Regurgitation Time (RT), I open it up. Retrospectively, I wonder how I managed without it in the dark ages preceding its possession. This and another miracle of technology, the Project Gutenberg combine to form a sheer divine alliance. Almost every classic literature worth reading is available for free download on their site. That’s over a hundred thousand eBooks from every imaginable source of royalty-free literature, including every known classic. And its free.
Initially, my PPC was inconvenient. But once I got used to it, I found it easier to handle than books printed on paper. True, I do miss the smell and the feel of a real book but the advantages outweigh the disadvantages by a long shot. I can adjust the font size and the brightness to suit my needs and I can remap the buttons to navigate through the eBook. I can also put as many book-marks as I want along the way and it jumps to them directly when I press any of them. Most importantly, I can fit an almost unlimited number of books in the palm of my hand, sort of like the verse from Blake’s ‘Auguries of Innocence’, “…hold infinity in the palm of your hand and eternity in an hour.”
My particular device gives me about 4-5 hours of reading joy for every charge. That’s more than enough to last me the whole day, often more. I try to give at least an hour to reading every night before going off to sleep. Most nights I succeed, sometimes I don’t. But its ok, the demands on my time warranting other activities are way too precious for me to give up, like my daughters. Eva, the elder one, sleeps by nine on weekdays because of early school the next day, while Anya can last anywhere from eleven to sometimes one in the morning if she doesn’t want to sleep. They are precious but both handsful (is there such a word?).
I love horror genre and that makes it perfect to read the books in the dark. Its easier on Swati as well since the bedroom lights don’t need to remain turned-on and she can sleep easier. She also has to get up early with Eva to ready her for school and prepare her lunch. Me, I get up late around 7 – 7:15 (even 9 on Sundays).
All I can say is that if you love reading, especially text-only material, nothing beats a PPC. Even for modern writing, eBooks are cheaper than the printed versions and they don’t cause destruction of any trees. That is some serious consolation with all this global warming.
Did I mention that its great for traveling? It is, 🙂
Anyway, here’s a link to Project Gutenberg for those who are interested. Have a look, its awesome.
http://www.gutenberg.org/wiki/Main_Page