I’ve written about the relative virtues of paper books and e-readers, and have worked out how each works best for me. But I’m still interested in the research.

In this article from the Financial Times, writer Julian Baggini asks, “Which do our brains prefer? Research is forcing us to rethink how we respond to the written word.” Answers he uncovered have been summarized in Publishing Perspectives:

When researchers look at the differences that reading in different media take, they make a delineation between “deep reading,” which is what happens when you get immersed in a text (a la Self’s reading of the serious novel), and “active reading,” when notes are taken in the margin or the book is set aside in order to cross-reference with another text.

Anne Campbell of Scotland’s Open University studies the use of Kindle readers and traditional books among students, and learned that “electronic readers promoted more deep reading and less active learning,” which seems to be a result of design. “They’re less distracted using this very basic Kindle,” she told Baggini. “They’re almost being forced to focus on it because of the very lack of ability to do things like flick forward and flick back.” In fact, many studies have shown that people reading on screens read more slowly than those reading paper.

This absolutely confirms my own personal experience. As I’ve found and as Publishing Perspectives concluded, a lot depends on what you’re reading and why. Check it out.

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