Reading E-Books Takes Longer Than Reading Paper Books 186
Hugh Pickens writes "PC World reports on a study showing that reading from a printed book — versus an e-book on any of the three tested devices, an iPad, Kindle 2, and PC — was a faster experience to a significant degree. Readers measured on the iPad reported reading speeds, on average, of 6.2 percent slower than their print-reading counterparts, while readers on the Kindle 2 clocked in at 10.7 percent slower. Jacob Nielsen had each participant read a short story by Ernest Hemingway. Each participant was timed, then quizzed to determine their comprehension and understanding of what they just read. Nielsen also surveyed users' satisfaction levels after operating each device (or page). For user satisfaction, the iPad, Kindle, and book all scored relatively equally at 5.8, 5.7, and 5.6 on a one-to-seven ranking scale (seven representing the best experience). The PC, however, did not fare so well, getting a usability score of 3.6."
It's obvious why (Score:2, Funny)
On the iPad, they had to keep checking their email.
I hope that e-books don't doom PC reading (Score:2, Funny)
The e-books readers will never understand the precision offered by the keyboard-mouse combination. I find reading on the e-books without the keyboard and mouse to be like a cliff notes or graphic novel version.
Re:Out of 7 ? (Score:3, Funny)
Re:Not statistically significant (Score:1, Funny)
Hey, give the man a break! He probably read tfa on his PC.
Re:I hope that e-books don't doom PC reading (Score:3, Funny)
The e-books readers will never understand the precision offered by the keyboard-mouse combination.
Not to mention the ability of the latter to provide for a quick 180 and a double-tap when a particularly nasty plot twist sneaks up on the unsuspecting reader.
Re:Not statistically significant (Score:5, Funny)
Accordingly, you could argue that the discrepancy caused by old users might be balanced out by young users who wasted a lot of time saying, "Where's the damn 'on button' on this old-fashioned block of papers?"
Re:Sounds like a good thing (Score:2, Funny)
Some books should be read carefully and slowly.
Fixed that for you. Many dime-store novels are ruined if you read them too carefully and slow enough to take time to think about how dumb they are. E.g. anything by Dan Brown.
Re:Not statistically significant (Score:3, Funny)
In conjunction with my earlier post, I would imagine this also connects with changes in neurotransmission as one gets older, specifically it seems that dopaminergic neurotransmission slowly declines, and I would suspect so does serotonergic transmission, though I have not seen enough serious studies to determine exactly what is going on. I also would imagine that the changes that happen to any given individual are quite variable, based on similar genetic and experiential/environmental variations that produce the initial differences in learning patterns (which if they are too far outside of certain bounds are considered learning disabilities, such as autism (though this one has significant other involvement), add-i, add-h, etc.)