March 25, 2005

The Once and Future E-Book

To the Editor:

The dissatisfaction with e-books is temporary ("Online Textbooks Fail to Make the Grade," The Chronicle, February 11). We're still not sure what they're best used for pedagogically, and they're still not convenient to read.

Ultimately, we have to wait till the right hardware comes along -- a portable, lightweight, long-battery-life, no-eyestrain-inducing reading device that works in any light. Think killer hardware for reading digitally, sort of like the iPod