TightWind is written by Kyle Baxter. Stay Hungry. Stay Foolish.

Paul Carr thinks the iPad will destroy long-form reading. He first argues that its LCD screen is poor for reading:

Let’s finally put to rest the myth that the iPad is a good way to read books – it isn’t. Without e-ink – who’d have thunk it? – your eyes get tired after a few pages. You find yourself wishing you could print out the rest of the book and read it properly, away from the screen. Even the way that Apple displays books – in their Delicious Library rip-off way – suggests that they consider books to be just another kind of app. Something to fire up, play with for a couple of minutes and then swap out for the next five minutes of Flight Control.

This hasn’t been my experience. I’ve been reading War of the Worlds each night since last Saturday, and I haven’t suffered any eye strain. I read for one to two hours a night on the iPad, and the device certainly hasn’t been a problem. My biggest problem is the same one I have while reading printed books in bed–I tend to fall asleep quickly. The screen just hasn’t been a problem.1

Carr’s second argument is that beause the iPad has so many functions (web browsing, email, Twitter, games), we can’t possibly become immersed in a book:

Even for those who love books enough to persevere with reading without e-ink will soon face another problem with the awesomeness of the iPad. The device does so many different things so well that there’s a constant urge when you’re using one to do something else. Two or three pages into a book, you’re already wondering whether you’ve got new mail, or whether anyone has atted you on Twitter. One of the joys of reading is to be able to shut yourself away from distractions and lose yourself in a book. When the book itself is packed with distractions, the whole experience is compromised.

I’ve lost myself in reading on the iPad, so I think this is more Carr grasping for reasons to dismiss the iPad than an actual problem.

Yes, all of those things are only a few taps away. But the reason I can still become fully immersed in a book on the iPad, just like with a real book, is because none of those things are apparent on the screen while reading. Unlike the desktop, when I’m reading a book on the iPad, I don’t see anything to remind me that I can check my email, or Twitter, or browse the web–all I see is a book.

Carr is being alarmist. There certainly are problems with reading on the iPad, screen resolution and device weight being the largest ones. But from my (admittedly brief) time with the device so far, reading on it is an absolute joy.

1. I read Cormac McCarthy’s The Road and Ayn Rand’s Anthem on my iPhone in their entirety. The screen isn’t an issue. [↩]