Category Archives: Reader Friday

Reader Friday: What’s Your Mood, Writer?

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According to some studies, those who love to write may enjoy certain mental health benefits. One article states:

“No matter the quality of your prose, the act of writing itself leads to strong physical and mental health benefits, like long-term improvements in mood, stress levels and depressive symptoms. In a 2005 study on the emotional and physical health benefits of expressive writing, researchers found that just 15 to 20 minutes of writing three to five times over the course of the four-month study was enough to make a difference.” 

So how do you generally feel when you’re writing? After you’ve written? 

Reader Friday: Are Physical Books Like the Dodo Bird?

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In a post titled “What makes books different…”, industry observer Mike Shatzkin posits that physical books may not be going “the way of the Dodo” as some suppose.

First, writes Shatzkin, a print book “has functionality that the ebook version does not. Quite aside from the fact that you don’t need a powered device (or an Internet connection) to get or consume it, the book allows you to flip through pages, write margin notes, dog-ear pages you want to get back to quickly, and easily navigate around back and forth through the text much more readily than with an ebook.”

Second, “the [print] book has — or can have — aesthetic qualities that the ebook will not. Some people flip for the feel of the paper or the smell of the ink, but you don’t have to be weirdly obsessed with the craft of bookmaking to appreciate a good print presentation.”

So what is your view of print versus e? What do you think the future holds for our old friend, the physical book?