Recalling an eBook by Its Cover

Apropos of the eReader question, something the tech-curious among you might find of interest is an episode from On the Media (great show, by the way) from last year, in which City University of New York dean Ann Kirschner approached Charles Dickens' Little Dorrit four different ways. First as a tried-and tested paperback, then on her Kindle, iPhone, and finally as an audio book.

The transcript is available here; or, if you prefer to listen, you can download the segment as an MP3 or use the embedded player below.


Although the segment is too brief for much exploration of the topic, Kirschner seemed to base a lot of her assessments on the act of "mobile" reading, which is worthy of some thought in and of itself. The most reading I ever got done in a given period was when I had a one-hour bus ride to work. But that luxury of time was offset by the fact that I hardly retained anything because I had to be up so early to catch the bus and was doubly exhausted on the return journey. Pages and pages of Chekov, Hazlitt, and Brecht just washed over me, and the most I can remember about many of those books is the color of their covers.

How would that play out in memory if all those books had been "unbound" digital editions, I wonder?