The July 9 issue of Time magazine carries a piece (subscription required) on summer air travel reading.
It begins with a paean to the Kindle, but offers my dissent:
“I always bring a hardcover,” says Gary Leff of frequent-flyer community Milepoint. “I don’t use an e-reader because flight attendants get snippy during takeoff and landing.”
Though it also goes on to explain that I will discard books as I go along to stay as light on the road as possible, leaving books behind in places where others may fortuitously stumble upon the best reads. Some hotel lounges have places where folks leave behind and pick up books, other times I’ll leave them in airport clubs. Occasionally I’ll carry home a book that I’ll want to reference later, but that’s rare, usually once I’ve read it I’m done.
Are you, like me, still carrying on physical books because you aren’t supposed to use electronic devices during takeoff and landing (when I most want to read, I can’t be online with Gogo after all), or are you strictly an e-reader type?
And what are you reading this summer? On my last flight I brought James Fallows’ China Airborne which I recommend highly.
Kindle.
Taxi is for champagne.
Takeoff is for window.
Landing is for immigration forms.
😉
XOOM tablet. Movies, Reading, Internet, Music.
@Ben sadly and as often as I report on international first class, I fy domestic much more frequently. No champagne, no immigration forms, and i take an aisle seat.
This is why I still maintain a few magazine subscriptions. The deviceless interval is just about right for quickly skimming one of my accumulated issues of The Economist. (I’m usually a few months behind, so I skip the time-sensitive material and concentrate on the features.) I then just leave it in the seatback pocket for the next flyer.
I’ve never had my Kindle use questioned during taxi or roll-out, including when sitting in exit rows right across from crew jumpseats. That said, I never have anything in my hands during the actual takeoff roll and short finals on landing – I use that time to mentally review safety and evacuation procedures in case of an emergency.
On the rare occasion that I leave the Kindle in the overhead bin, I leaf through the seat pocket literature for a few minutes while taxiing out.
(And just to go full circle, I pay for my Economist subscription with miles…)
Like you, I prefer the physical format. The FAs aren’t going to tell me to shut it off, although once in a blue moon an FA will ask me to put it down during the safety demo. I’m more of a newspaper/magazine guy because I like to read books in a single session (two sessions max – most of my flights are long haul so I prefer sleep to reading).
Like E, I also keep a couple magazine subscriptions running for this purpose alone.
I just got a Kindle last week and it is pretty awesome. Although there are the 10 minutes you can’t use it during taxi and takeoff, I think that inconvenience outweighs the inconvenience of lugging around physical books. I can’t imagine going back to hard cover books.
If I’m doing same day turnaround mileage runs then it’s magazines. If I’m staying at a destination I’ll leave a book.
Since you’re already leaving books behind, you might like http://www.bookcrossing.com/mybookshelf/vraciousrdr/, as it’s the same concept, only you log the book and wait to see where it goes on it’s next journey.
I am the same as E and Ben. In fact exactly the same as E – I have a cheap sub to The Economist courtesy of a nice Slickdeals find, and keep this specifically for my take offs. I am usually flying domestic CRJs and have an aisle & window single seat so landing is for watching NY or RDU! But one Economist issue is enough to keep me busy on the average take off and landing issue.
I don’t carry a separate Kindle either, I find the Kindle app on my iPhone plenty good enough. So all I have on board at my seat is an iPhone and a copy of The Economist (unless it’s a longer flight > 2 hours in which case will bring iPad too)
I like traveling with real books, although I prefer soft to hard cover. I haven’t read a work of fiction since college; typically history or biographies. I’m almost done with Robert Dallek’s excellent biography on JFK, An Unfinished Life.
I started leaving books behind after someone left a copy of “Patriot Games” at the AA lounge in MIA. Loved that book and I´ve done the same for, wow, 25 years?!?
I read books on an iPad because the screen is larger than a kindle and I have bad eyesight. I bring all the throw away work related magazines I get to read after takeoff and before landing and leave them on the plane in the seatback or trash.
Even though Zi have an original iPad it is fine for large print and the battery lasts over 9hrs even at 3 years old
I carry paper books because I actually prefer to read them and keep them for later. It’s not uncommon for me to want to look something up, or share something with a friend, and scanning the bookshelves helps.
I use my iPad for newspapers and magazines because I toss those when I’m done. I don’t read for long enough that the backlight hurts my eyes, and I can use it for something else besides reading.
Paperback – never hardcover. Who wants the extra weight?
I have a kindle, and like several previous commenters, I bring the Economist for takeoff and landing. Lugging books around just seems completely barbaric to me at this point.
On vacation, there’s nothing better than being under a palapa with a paperback. I’ve left many books in the Caribbean. For business trips, I’ll pack my kindle. I’m always looking out the window during takeoff and landing.
I feel so lame. Most y’all read the Economist on takeoff/landing. I read Rolling Stone…
I bring paper magazines for takeoff and landing, but read everything else on the iPad. I then leave the mags behind as I read them. They are very thin and fit right in the outside pocket of my roller computer bag.
When I’m back home, I grab the next arrivals.
I have both a Kindle and a regular book, because I need to be reading during takeoff – weird quirk that I can’t stop – and I can’t have my Kindle on during takeoff/landing. The problem is I’ll get so engrossed in my book that I forget to take out my Kindle…That and I like to flip around while reading books which is really difficult to do on a Kindle
For me it is either an old kindle 2 (which contrary to FA insistence does NOT have an on/off switch) or my transformer prime on any flights of length. If it is a short one i bring only my phone with a kindle app on it. That said, i read very slowly and because of a flaw in the actual kindle it is often required i take that if reading a library book.
My wife always travels with trash mags and real books. She doesn’t yet like the electronic ones.
As to what I’m reading, currently rereading the hardcover The First Tycoon about Vanderbilt.
I just can’t imagine traveling without a real book in my hands. Many times I will carry a thick book, such as Moon or Lonely Planet, and I rip the book apart as I go, shedding chapter by chapter in my wake.
Although books add weight, I still prefer to bring a half-dozen paperbacks that I can swap out at lending libraries. And since my the majority of my travel is to remote areas of 3rd world countries, the books are worth their weight in silver.
I just can’t imagine traveling without a real book in my hands. Many times I will carry a thick book, such as Moon or Lonely Planet, and I rip the book apart as I go, shedding chapter by chapter in my wake.
Although books add weight, I still prefer to bring a half-dozen paperbacks that I can swap out at lending libraries. And since my the majority of my travel is to remote areas of 3rd world countries, the books are worth their weight in silver.