Digital Reader

It has been several years since I made the switch from reading paper books to reading digital books. I’d like to share with you what initiated my interest in digital reading and my eventual transition.

If you have read a number of my blog posts, you will have likely noted that I am a big fan of the TV series Star Trek: The Next Generation. If you are familiar with the series, you will know that one of the props that takes a quiet, but prominent place in the series, is something called the data pad. It is something that looks much like a small iPad or other digital tablet, such as the Kindle reader. I was always fascinated by the idea of the data pad and thought how cool it would be to have something like it to read books on.

At some point before 2006, Denise and I took note of how large our paper book library had gotten and when we decided to lighten the load, we found out just how hard it is to get rid of books, especially if you feel that you should be able to sell them and get some return on the investment. As we found out, no one wants them, let alone paying for them. We ended up giving the bulk of them to Value Village, so they could at least benefit from the donation. It was a painful experience for me, but Denise reminded me that books are basically consumables that help the world go around, and I did get the pleasure of reading them at the time. True enough, but still a hard pill to swallow.

When thoughts of digital readers came to mind and the world was showing an interest in that realm, I thought how good this would be, because digital books would not take up any space at all and would not be a constant reminder of how much money Denise and I spent on books.

In 2006 I had many thoughts about inventing a digital reader, if only in my 3D CAD world. Talk about them in the world was in its infancy so I felt like I was leading the pack in a sense. At that time, I had designed and modeled a digital reader that I thought would offer a reader an experience that would closely resemble reading a paper book. Below you can see a new render of the original digital reader.

Digital Reader (2025 Render) – Designed & Rendered by Don Cheke

I included two screens to mimic the paper book experience, and because touch screen control was not really on the scene, that I am aware of, I added numerous buttons to help the reader navigate the book. I did, however, think that the touch screen option would be developed, so I included an option for a touch screen keyboard. I thought at the time that it was ingenious that I also added a dictionary and thesaurus function. I also included a bookmark feature to help readers mark and find passages that they wanted to go back to in the future. At the time, I thought that it would be prudent to have the dual screens color-capable so that picture books would be an option, and viewable in all their glory. Don’t forget that by 2006, we had seen so much advancement in computing, so all these options seemed quite doable.

Boxed Digital Reader Display (2022 Render) – Designed & Rendered by Don Cheke

At the time of designing this digital reader, SD digital storage cards were available for such things as cameras, and I thought that this would be an ideal way for publishers to sell digital books. Place a SD card in a book-shaped package and it would seem to me to be very much like how paper books are delivered. I also thought that the packing scheme below would fit well within bookstore shelves, or bookshelves in one’s home.

Digital Book – Closed – Designed & Rendered by Don Cheke

Digital Book – Opened – Designed & Rendered by Don Cheke

When my design was complete, including the packing scheme, I had posted pictures on the TurboCAD User Forum, and many of the regular participants suggested that I approach one of the big electronics manufacturers to see if they were interested in developing my digital reader. After pondering this a bit, and pushing myself out of my introverted comfort zone, I did, indeed, send my design off to the Sony Manufacturing Company. Almost immediately, I received an email back that my email, and its attachments, were deleted without being opened because Sony did not accept, or even look at, unsolicited product designs. I realized then that this was a way for them to avoid legal battles in the future from want-to-be inventors who believe that such manufacturers have stolen their designs, or are owed something, as you can well imagine. If the manufacturer doesn’t look, then no information has passed, and no legal cases for such things can exist. That made sense to me and the dream of having my design being developed was shelved. Looking back on my life and having been in the manufacturing industry for years as a product design engineer, I can assure you that I had no hope of bringing that digital reader design to fruition, if I had actually been serious enough to try. My motto in that regard is, “manufacturing is not for the faint of heart.”

It was about one year later when the first Kindle reader hit the marketplace (2007). Its arrival showed that I was not the only one with the development of this product in mind. I did not pursue the new Kindle reader because I was of the impression that eBooks weren’t readily available and I imagined that the price would have been prohibitive, as the first of a new product line always are.

When the 3rd generation Kindle came to the marketplace, my interest peaked. The reader looked like a good design, with its single page, lightweight design. It had a small keyboard on the bottom for user book navigation. Books were to be purchased through Amazon, and they were completely digital in nature, meaning that they were downloaded to the device and no SD card was required. Their design, I decided, was way better than mine, and of course with a team of researchers and product design people, as well as huge financial resources, they could bring the digital reader through further development and any new product generations to the masses. On top of that, the Kindle reader was priced quite reasonably.

I did purchase a 3rd generation Kindle, and If I am not mistaken, I have not purchased a paper book since that time. The new eBook lasted a good stretch of time, but eventually gave up the ghost, as they say. I replaced it with a 4th generation Kindle, which looked very much the same. It might have been a bit bigger, size wise.

Eventually, I purchased another new Kindle reader, since like most folks, I like to keep up with the Jones. I am not sure which generation it was, but it was now completely touchscreen operated. Other than the missing manual keyboard, it functioned much the same as the 3rd and 4th generation models did. In the image below, it is the one on the left.

Kindle/Amazon Readers – Photo by Don Cheke

Next to come for me was the Kindle Paper White. It is the one on the right in the image above. I purchased it to keep up with technology and because it had a larger glare-free screen, at least that is what I told myself. Self-inflicted upgrade pressure is the most likely culprit. 😊

Step ahead a few years, and low and behold, just this week I decided that I needed a new digital reader, this time an Amazon Fire 8, seen in the center of the picture above. Let me tell you the story behind it.

One of the best things about digital books is that they are mostly cheaper than paper books, as they should be, if you think about the manufacturing and marketing processes. That said, I still find that too many are priced more than I want to pay. I basically won’t buy a digital book that costs more than $10, less than $6 or $7 is even better. That does limit what I can purchase, but I have found hundreds of great books, some for as little as $2 or $3.

Just recently, I decided that I should check out borrowing digital books from my local library system. As it turns out, the selection is not as good as I hoped, but they do have many of the popular books that cost more than $10 on Amazon. Technology-wise, the only drawback is that the digital library books need to be acquired through an app, such as Libby or Hoopla, and my current Kindle reader, at the time, does not allow for the installation of apps. I can do it via my smartphone, but I am not keen reading books on my phone. This being the case, I investigated tablets and found that the Amazon Fire was a tablet that could do exactly that, and if I wanted the tablet reader experience, I would have to invest in a new device. Well, once I had that idea rattling around in my head, it wasn’t long before I talked myself into ordering the Amazon Fire 8. The 8 means that it has an 8-inch screen, diagonally speaking. Since it is a Kindle-like device, I can still read Kindle books on it, but now that I can install apps, I can read others, such as those from my local library system. I can also install other apps and open other reading material, like all those public domain books found through Project Gutenberg. In the end, all I have to do is read about ten or twelve library eBooks, that would have been over $10 on Amazon to pay for the new devise, so a pretty good deal overall.

Via Libby, I downloaded my first Saskatoon Library eBook. It is Stranger in a Strange Land by Robert A. Heinlein. Although it was only $8.99 on Amazon, I had wanted to give Libby a try, so that is why I went that route. After reading about 100 pages of the 600-page book I decided it wasn’t my cup of tea, so I cancelled the loan, and was happy that I had not wasted the money I would have otherwise spent. Just before writing this paragraph, I took a break and downloaded a John Grisham book via Libby from my local library. I love John Grisham, so I bet this will make for a better initial read on my new Amazon reader and it will save me $11.00. As I said, there are many of these popular authors available through the library eBook loans, so I should be good for a long stretch of time.

I will continue to purchase eBooks through Amazon, and I will use the Libby book borrowing service when it is beneficial to me financially.

As a side note, I should mention that although my wife, Denise, has been a paper book fan all her life, she is starting to lean towards digital, since she can easily increase font size, and it is easier for her to hold the digital reader than the paper books due to her worsening Parkinson’s disease, which makes it challenging keeping the paper book opened and steady.

Are you an avid reader, like Denise and me? Have you tried reading books on a digital device? Do you prefer that experience to that of a paper book?

Donald B. Cheke – March 17, 2025