I would love to see a similar study done with textbooks and school books:

iPad and Kindle Reading Speeds (Jakob Nielsen's Alertbox): "The iPad measured at 6.2% lower reading speed than the printed book, whereas the Kindle measured at 10.7% slower than print. However, the difference between the two devices was not statistically significant because of the data's fairly high variability."

Even though I don't plan on buying another eBook anytime soon, I don't place much importance on this study (and I use that word loosely since the data set was 32 people and there were many undefined variables not nailed down). Nonetheless, some people will point to this as yet another reason print is better than an iPad or Kindle, especially in the education world. We can't necessarily do that with this information, but it will provide good tidbits for cocktail party chats. Also, it's just interesting to see the difference in reader experiences, even in a small data set. In my current opinion, print is optimal at this stage in our human story because of these points made so well by Nathan Schneider. As a Middle School Teacher, I'll gladly assert all day that speed means nothing when it comes to reading. The key to a reading platform's success or failure is its ability to provide interaction (or get out of the way of that interaction). Now if only we could gauge critical interaction with texts in a test format that didn't involve shading in bubbles...

I never want to buy another "e" book from Amazon or Apple again. Don't mistake my intentions. I have an iPad. I love it. I have a Kindle DX. I love it as well (although I'm falling out of love with it because I do most of my Kindle reading on my iPad or iPhone or Asus eee netbook or Macbook Pro). However, this post (essay) summarizes the rising tension I've felt in my heart and brain the last two years as I've began the slow and admittedly painful process of digitizing my own cumbersome library (this profile in serious need of updating):

In Defense of The Memory Theater | Open Letters Monthly - an Arts and Literature Review: "Until these companies take seriously the needs and, above all, the rights of readers (the human beings, not the machines), they deserve ruthless suspicion. Just because the Kindle and iPad might seem to work relatively reliably now, and because Google tells itself ‘don’t be evil,’ we shouldn’t keep from entertaining darker, more paranoid, even Orwellian fantasies."

Well reasoned luddite ranting aside, the essay is full of inspiration for those of us looking to creatively resist the commercialization and commoditization of our own personal data. I'm off to rearrange my bookshelves. I've neglected my own Memory Theater for far too long in exchange for the ease of a googled life.