I’m going to be getting a Palm Pilot for my birthday, and one reason why I wanted it (beyond all of the obvious function and use for work) is because of an article I read about someone using it to read their e-book while on a camping trip (they had left their print book at home by accident). The idea of that intrigued me so much that I wanted to try it out myself. I haven’t been a big fan of the e-book craze, and buying an expensive piece of technology just to read a book never appealed to me, but if I can read it on my PDA, then why not? Unfortunately, it looks like e-books might have a bit of a setback. Barnes & Noble has announced that it is no longer going to sell them, and if the other major online book sellers decide not to fuss with e-books anymore, then the publishers may decide to drop the format altogether.
Update:
The article mentioned in this post is…
Faiks, Angi Herold. My First eBook. Against the Grain. 15:2 (Apr. 2003), 40-41.
I use my PDA for reading all the time. One alternative I can suggest is downloading books from Project Gutenberg, which I’m sure you already know about — they’re switching servers I gather, but this link works. Obviously you’re not going to find the new John Grisham there, but there are thousands of old classics.