In recent years, there has been a rise in the volume of audiobook sales, which is easily aided by the dominance of the smartphone. Other contributors to the rise beyond technology?

One thing is obvious: Reading even a short book involves a significant investment of time and prevents any other activity. You can’t drive or garden while reading. Andy Miller, the author of The Year of Reading Dangerously, said: “I was hunting for a book to read.” Kit Waal, my friend, said, “you should get the audiobook Old Filth; it’s fantastic.” She was right. I could walk the dog and still be reading a brilliant novel, or have one read to me brilliantly. I loved that book and I loved that way of reading it. So I’m a recent convert.”

Does he worry audio provides too different an experience to reading itself? “Clearly on audio you are at the mercy of the reader’s skills,” he says. “But then , ego (自己) aside, the same is true of reading a book on the page. We’re all at the mercy of our own skills and tastes, aren’t we? But on audio you are influenced by someone else’s interpretation. And you might simply dislike the voice of the reader. But at its best audio offers a complementary (互补的) experience to the actual book.”

Will audiobook distract us from the page before us? Better to focus on what we might gain. As someone who frequently interviews authors on stage, I'm aware of the unique insight to a text produced by hearing someone read their own work; I’ve frequently re-interpreted a passage after such an experience. But that has had no impact on whether or not I'll read a book by a writer I will never hear reading.

I once met the writer Don Delillo. In response to a question about the process of writing, he remarked that he sometimes became attracted by the shape of particular letters, by the way individual words appeared before him, their beauty beyond meaning and the relationship to meaning. He sounded hippy-dippy; then it made perfect sense. Reading does start with shapes, which slowly resolve to make a certain meaning, filtered through our own subjectivity and our senses. That will never change.

Little boys don't like reading any more and even little girls don' t enjoy it as much as they once did: this is the accepted wisdom inside the book industry –and in many British families, too. Parents and booksellers tend to blame the growing appeal of online entertainment and handheld games, but research from the US is challenging these assumptions.

Michael Norris, an American publishing expert, will release findings in the monthly Book Publishing Report which show that, despite the best intentions, it is well-meaning mothers and fathers who often stop their sons and daughters from picking up the reading habit.

Parents have too much of a role in deciding which books their child is going to read," said Norris. It is turning children off. "

The results of a number of surveys Norris has carried out with hundreds of American booksellers over the past year have provided the basis for a series of tips for parents designed to help children find enjoyment in books.

One of his tips is to make sure children talk directly to a librarian or a book seller, while parents stand well back. Parents should allow children to choose their own reading material. Even if a mother or father is just standing with the child when the bookseller asks them what they like to read, we have found that the child will give an answer they think their parent wants to hear. It will not be the same answer they would give alone, said Norris.

Norris said, “What we have found is that parents should not worry whether a title looks too young or too old for a child. If it is children’s favorite book, then let them take it.” Children, added Norris, often enjoy reading books that are easy for then let them take it.” Children, added Norris, often enjoy reading books that are easy for them to understand. “My father made me read The Hunt for Red October by Tom Clancy when I was much too young, which, I think, was totally wrong, and I have never read another Clancy since,” said Norris.

This might not sound so extraordinary, but I didn’t just read a book in print, on an e-reader or even on a mobile phone. Instead, I read a book on dozens of devices(设备). I was not trying to set a Guinness world record. I wanted to answer a question I often hear: which e-reader or tablet（平板）is the best for reading books? So I set out to try them all, reading a chapter on each: the Amazon Kindle, the first and second generation Apple iPads and mobile phones. To be fair, I also read a chapter in that old-fashioned form — an old print paperback.

The book I chose was The Alienist. For the first chapter, I turned to an Amazon Kindle. Shopping on Amazon for the Kindle is simple; you go to Amazon’s Web site and buy the book, which is then sent to any devices with Kindle software installed(安装). Reading on the Amazon Kindle is a joy in many aspects. The Kindle is light．Its six-inch screen is the perfect size for reading, and reading on its black and white E Ink display doesn’t harm your eyes. Battery life is outstanding; on average you charge the device only once a month. My only complaint with the Kindle design is the placement of the keyboard at the bottom of the device. Amazon’s CEO has noted during past product announcements that the keyboard is there to help people take notes or search. But to me，it seems like a waste of space.

Despite the small screen on a mobile phone, I find reading on one to be simple and satisfactory. All of the mobile phones on which I read chapters felt somewhat similar; although screen brightness and the size of the phone’s screen did vary.

If I had wanted to, I could have bought my book through dozens of e-book apps (应用程序) in the Apple App Store. Most are free and offer access to thousands of free e-books or paid versions. But the big downside for many is that you can read them only on Apple devices. Both iPads 1＆2 offer an immersive（沉浸式）reading experience. I found myself jumping back and forth between my book and the Web, looking up old facts and pictures of New York City. I also found myself being sucked into the wormhole of the Internet and a few games of Angry Birds rather than reading my book. For the last chapters of the book, I read the paperback, which is still my favourite choice.

Since we are comparing devices so I guess I need to choose one. In the end it might come down to Kindle. But if money is tight, go for print. My used paperback cost only＄4 from Amazon.

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