To Nook or Not to Nook

To Nook or Not to Nook

So last fall I decided to purchase a “Nook" from Barnes and Noble. The black and white Nook, not the new colored Nook.  Here is some basic info for you about it.  The screen is non-glare but it is only black and white, like reading a regular book. The non-glare screen is great for reading outside or traveling in a car or a brightly lit room. You can change the fonts and the font size of the book your are reading.  It can go on the web and browse, retrieve email, Facebook, chat etc etc.  There is a small colored screen located at the bottom that gives you a full color look at what you are viewing on the web or the covers of the books you purchase. I can go for days without charging my Nook if I’m simply reading books.  So there you have some of the basics.

What I really wanted to share with you was what I discovered about myself and reading via the Nook. I have NEVER liked to read! I hated it in school and most of my adult life. I have difficulty comprehending what I’m reading and retaining it. I could read a page or paragraph for that matter and then think to myself “what the heck did that say”?   

At this point you are probably wondering WHY I made the purchase of a Nook if I dislike reading so much.  It was mainly the ability to enlarge the font size of what I was reading. I CAN read small print, however for some reason the LARGER print size just kept coming back to mind. So I took the plunge, and this is what I discovered: I now like to read, for the first time in my life!

I began to analyze it “WHY” do I like to read now?  What I discovered was, in making the font size larger I could now read one line and go to the next without ‘losing my place’.  What I never realized was, I was not able track well while reading a regular book. I had to concentrate so much on not losing my place that I could not comprehend what I was reading! Now with the larger print (and trust me I put it on VERY LARGE print), I can not only read from one line to the next without the confusion of losing my place but I’m able to comprehend and remember more of what I'm reading.

So here are some final thoughts on this. I would highly recommend giving the “idea” of the larger print (or purchase of a Nook) for yourself or a child that has the same issues that I have mentioned above: difficulty tracking from one line to the next, difficulty comprehending and retaining what you read because of the tracking issue.  

Another important note is: discovering what type of books you like to read. What are your interests? IE: Biography, Psychology, Religion, Romance, Fantasy, Science Fiction, Mystery etc etc etc

It was a process but the bottom line is “I have discovered I love to read”!