Reading Books the Email Way

Okay, call me a sucker for most new website startups, but I’ll try almost anything once, if I find it useful.

DailyLit is a site where you can have daily installments of a book(s) emailed to you. I kinda like the idea, though it will never replace the old fashion method of holding a book in my hands and reading before going to sleep or while sitting and waiting for my kids during musical instrument lessons.

It looks as if most of the books currently available on Dailylit are of the classical type—in other words, books by dead White males. These books are copyright free, so there’s no problem for DailyLit sharing installments. I suspect that there will eventually be options to purchase installments of contemporary books that authors and publishers release for this format.

The current book I’ve selected is Alex De Tocqueville’s Democracy in America: Book One. I’ve always planned to read this book but have never got around to it. It’s not like I couldn’t get a copy at the library or purchase a used copy on Amazon, but the the likelihood of doing that with this book is almost nil. I would, however, consider doing a 5 minute read of each of the 205 installments of this book. So in less than a year, I can have it finished. And of course, if I find myself really getting involved with the book, I can read it the old fashion way.

This novel method of reading kinda of reminds me of the old days when people read installments of novels in newspapers and magazines. Reading books by email installments might have its challenges (like I’ve already had to increase the font size of my email content so that I can read the installment more efficiently on the screen), but I think it’s just another way of making better use of digital technology.

Of course, though Web 2.0 critics like Andrew King might see DailyLit as another way the internet is “killing our culture,” I find it another great possibility for making connections and building communities using the internet.

When you select a book to read through DailyLit, you have the option of starting or joining a discussion about the book. Now, I don’t think I could find right now one person I physically meet on a regular basis who might be interested reading Tocqueville’s classic work, but in the world wide web I might find find at least three dedicated readers of the book. If you’re one of them, join the discussion thread I started today for this book.

Book forums have already been started for about three dozens books on the site, so by all means, DailyLit is worth the free registration and giving it a try.