Books may have to turn over new leaf for iPad generation

Published on Thursday 15 July 2010 18:29

LONG novels with intricate plots may not survive in their current form as reading habits change in the electronic age, a leading academic has warned.

Dr Bill Bell, director of the Centre of the History of the Book at the University of Edinburgh, said devices such as the iPad may "lessen the appetite" for books such as War and Peace, with their complicated plots and often slowly-paced structures.

Speaking ahead of a three-day "Material Cultures" conference in Edinburgh that begins today, Dr Bell said: "There's an older generation who might complain about shorter attention spans, but there is a new literacy which has emerged among younger users and readers who are incredibly adept at multi-tasking.

"The older generation might want to read a book from beginning to end, but it takes a different type of skill to multi-task and keep all of those things going simultaneously. It's about having a hybrid experience; it's no longer sitting and reading linearly from beginning to end, it's about developing new kinds of skill.

"A new generation of authors are starting to think in more multilinear ways about the way they can structure narrative."

He went on: "Some people would say multi-media devices such as iPads shorten attention spans, but I would say it creates new opportunities. People are moving seamlessly between Facebook, sound and video files, using online resources while 'chatting' to other readers.|

"There are certain kinds of text such as newspapers and dictionaries which we've always read erratically, so it hardly surprising it is these which adapt so easily to being read on websites."

Dr Bell said that, while people may not be reading so intensively, they were reading more as a result of new technology.

And he said electronic devices might prompt a revival of interest in hand-made and finely produced texts.

He said increasingly people were using technology to access familiar texts in new ways, allowing readers to analyse patterns as well as revealing details not visible to the naked eye.

He added: "This increase in accessibility can only be a good thing for the future of the book.

"We are in the midst of a seismic shift in the format of the book and how people may read them. Recent technological developments may result in exciting new forms of books as well as positive developments for established texts. Books have not always been what they are today. What we should be asking is not whether the book has a future but what is the next form that the book will take?"

Dr Mary Brown, a lecturer in psychology at Robert Gordon University in Aberdeen, agreed reading habits may be changing.

She said: "In education, there is a sort of assumption that things must be read in great detail, that in order to understand a subject properly we have to go through what is called 'deep learning' involving having a thorough understanding of what we are reading.

"This contrasts with 'strategic' reading, where we read a little bit of this and a little bit of that around a subject and get the general idea of it before deciding if we want to go back to it. But in actual fact, the two have always coexisted and this is exactly what Dr Bell is flagging up."

Dr Brown added: "Another factor is that people have different reading styles linked to their personality. Some might want to attack James Joyce's Ulysses but others may find this overwhelming and prefer reading snippets on their computer or iPad."

No time for a long read? Books editor David Robinson condenses a few classics

He's called Darcy. No woman is good enough for him. She's called Elizabeth Bennett and says she'll never marry him. They change their minds.

Pride and Prejudice by Jane Austen

Big-headed eejit makes a deal with the Mephistopholes, selling his soul in return for lots of fun, power and sex with Helen of Troy. Then forgets about it - until the last scene.

Faust, by Goethe

Long knight's journey over a few days, with servant in Spain. Watch out, there's a windmill.

Don Quixote by Cervantes

Aristocratic woman has affair with aristocratic man. They swear the double standards of aristocratic Russian society will never tear them apart. But that's what happens. Watch out, there's a train.

Anna Karenina by Leo Tolstoy

There's a farm, there's animals, but they act more like people - especially USSR leaders circa 1917-35. Watch out, there's a pig called Napoleon, and he's walking on two legs.

Animal Farm by George Orwell