All of my life I’ve been a voracious reader. It wasn’t at all uncommon for me to read 12-15 books in one day when I was younger. Then my eyesight started getting worse, and reading became more of a hardship. I read less, I read slower, and I often read my way to a headache.

Several years ago I bought a PalmPilot Professional to catalog my books so I would stop buying duplicates. Within a few months I had found a very pleasant very unexpected side effect - eBooks.

My original PPPro only had one MB of space, so reading was still somewhat awkward - I couldn’t fit much more than a chapter of a book on the device at once. But even then I saw the great potential - I could control the font size, line spacing, and screen orientation of the device. The Palm was light enough that I could hold it as close to my eyes as I wanted to, and portable enough that it was always with me. I could even operate it one handed while standing on the subway.

In November 1998 I bought an 8MB upgrade card for my PPPro and from that point forward I have not been without several books at any time. Have a few minute wait at the doctor’s office? No problem - I can read. Have a long boring commute? No problem - I can read. No planning required. Having books on my Palm was just part of my normal routine.

The only drawback is that not all books are available as eBooks. If I had my choice I’d never read another paper book again. But I do still read paper books, grumbling the whole time. There are thousands and thousands of eBooks available, many free, but there are also thousands of books that are not yet available electronically.

The portability is great, but I found the aforementioned control over fonts and line spacing the single best feature of Palm eBooks. I still do most of my reading at night before bed, at a time when I could easily use a paper book. But I rarely do. I can read faster with less eyestrain and fewer headaches when I read on my Palm. eBooks have brought books back into my life. I will be forever grateful.