I just read another article about the pros and cons of reading printed books vs. e-readers. Actually, it’s a head-to-head column worth the read, but which in the end leaves me as dissatisfied as prior, well, reading experiences. And that’s a nice segue-way, because that’s essentially where the column places the focus — on the experience of reading rather than on the thing itself.

This reminds me — a lot! — of all the arguments online forum photographers have about gear and how they take pictures while never discussing what makes a great photograph.

Long story short, whether e-readers are more convenient, holding more data, and so on, or printed books smell better and flip pages better seems rather beside the point. Tangential. Reading is about grappling with the written word, the images it portrays, the ideas it conveys. Whether you’re doing that on a back-lit screen or a on piece of paper under the glow of a warm tungsten (soon to be obsolete, too!) light, it’s what you get out of reading that matters.

In the end, whatever mode or method of reading you prefer, use it. So long as you’re reading.