Since I was a kid, I’ve been looking for the perfect way to read in bed. The ideal position would involve no sustained muscle effort, so I could just let my eyes drift shut as I read, without the book falling shut or my hand slipping or anything. One way is to sit up against something and hold the book on your lap, but that’s not great for falling asleep. So I usually end up reading on my side.
The problem is, you have to hold the book to see both pages, and in either case, you’re using some muscles to hold it where it is.
This has worked for most of my life, but it’s still not that ultimate relaxation.
However, I recently got a Kindle. I was intending to use it mainly as a mobile web browser, but I’ve surprised myself by using it to read an awful lot. And, with apologies to all the bibliophiles out there, I find the ergonomics better than a paperback. When snacking and reading, I can lay it flat on a table without the use of a book weight to hold it opened, and when lying in bed, I don’t have to keep moving it to read.
But it’s not perfect. There’s no way to hold it with a finger on the ‘next page’ buttons that doesn’t require a few muscles to hold it upright:
Either I work to hold my hand off the bed, or I awkwardly curl my fingers around it. Either way, it tips over if I relax my arm, even if it’s leaning against a pillow, and I’m startled awake by this:
I started to wonder if I could do even better. I got out of bed one night, went to the closet, and got a steel coat hanger and some pliers. After a few minutes of twisting, I created this:
First of all, it holds the Kindle upright …
And second, it lets me lie there motionless, and turn the pages with just a tiny twitch of my thumb:
Finally, after decades of reading in bed, I have reached that stage of perfect relaxation.
xkcd 
Probably someone has already pointed this out and I just missed it, but: Hogfather FTW.
I saw the all-caps dialogue first and went “I bet that’s Discworld!” Not being familiar with the fact that Kindle puts the title at the top of the page, I squinted at the dialogue and made out a line or two and went “Hogfather!” out loud just as I noticed the title at the top. Silly me.
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When are you going to manufacture and market the Kindle?
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This is like laziness to perfection. I think this would work perfectly for me, but I’m to lazy to buy a kindle. I’m too lazy to buy books. We’re lucky I even get out of bed in the mornings.
“I work very hard to do as little as I do.”
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I still think audio-books are the best solution. What would make it perfect is an alpha-wave sensor, so that playback would stop once I begin to fall asleep, and continue should I wake shortly after.
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That’s it, I’m buying a fucking Kindle.
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The kindle seems like the best idea, but how well does it work in low light?
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Laziness AND Learning! Take that public school system!
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I do a similar thing for my Sony E-Reader. I have it in a case with a light, and since it has a button for changing pages bottom left and on the right edge, I simply lay it against a pillow and keep my thumb on the left hand button. It is much nicer not having to flip over with every page turn.
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The Kindle is an awesome bed reader. Just make sure to buy a Mighty Bright Light, which makes the screen extremely clear for nighttime reading.
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Randal, you’re a genius! Too bad I don’t have a kindle/laptop/e-reader.
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I attached a rope from the ceiling and to it’s end I attached a square frame made from clothes hangars so it could hold a book and I lie on my back with my hands to the sides and only occasionally move my hands to turn the pages.
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I’m such a Pratchett nerd. I noticed it was a discworld book simply by the character talking in ALL CAPS.
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Well, I use a Tablet PC and prefer to kindles since I can “write” on the page and take notes. Kindles does not have a pen input. I like to keep my notes organized using OneNote. The good thing with my approach is that I can copy & paste areas of the screen into my notes and I can do all of them with just the pen input and a little dial on side of my Tablet. Moreover, there are thousands of ebooks that kindle does not handle nicely but on a Tablet PC you can open any document format you like. Granted, Tablet PCs are heavier than kindle but some of them are not too bad especially considering that some books are actually bigger and heavier than a tablet PC!
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Just out of curiosity, is the book in picture #3 odd girls and twilight lovers? A mildly odd reading choice in and of itself.
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I just set my laptop on the bed and use a screen rotation utility to re-orient the book I’m reading; just rest your finger on the down arrow, and voila!
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It’s not so hard to read a paper book in bed.
1) You make a mound of blankets for your chair (burrowing into said mound like an oversized rabbit is optional).
2) You prop the book upright on your knees, or on a cleverly situated lump of blanket.
Your arms are in a relaxed position. You just need to put your hands on the sides of the book so it doesn’t fall shut.
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you’ve got skin cancer on the back of your hand
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The best way is simply on your back with a pillow on your stomach holding the book up a little bit.
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Hmmm no that still sounds rather uncomfortable… for the neck. After years of reading I find that reading books makes great arm exercise. 😀 cough*
But no really I’ve discovered a great love for ebooks as great as that is for the eyes. Sofas are awesome. I hate how my arms get cold holing the book…
Hehe I read the Twilight books from my phone and tested out my mobireader on it at the same time. Once again not the best for your eyes and the story was like a fanfic but anyways it allowed me to huddle in my blankets and keep my arms warm.
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The metal frame is a great idea. As is the audiobook. The myriad yoga positions are also ok.
I pay a hobo to read to me while I fall asleep. There’s a lot of trust there, but it’s the most comfortable way I can think of.
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Am I the only one who noticed that Randall has a copy of “Odd Girls and Twilight Lovers: A History of Lesbian Life in Twentieth-Century America”… right next to his pillow?
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@ Richie- How could you possible have recognized that book from such a low resolution picture unless you are very familiar with it.
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Back in elementary school we had to come up with an invention for this one assignment. Even then I read voraciously, and I solved this same problem, albeit in a different way. My solution? A clipboard with holes drilled at the corners, a bungee cord suspended from each corner to the underside of my top bunk bed. And a built in reading light. Hell yeah.
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Props for having Terry Pratchett on screen–and even more props if the book is Mort, which I’m pretty sure it is.
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im always surprised by the lengths people will go to avoid work. still, i have done things like this. too bad i dont have a kindle, i always have that lying on my side problem. i end up switching sides depending on the page, which is not relaxing at all. ive given up on sleeping while reading a book and taken to watch television on my computer to fall asleep. upside, itll keep going whether i fall asleep or not. the downside is i used to sleep with it on the side that wasnt against a wall, so occasionally i knocked my laptop off (very bad). Once i knocked it off and i was so startled by the alarm in the morning i jumped out of bed and lightly stepped on it.
Needless to say, i replaced that laptop about a year after these events. i now watch tv at night with the laptop against the wall side of the bed.
i lost track of what i started with.
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@ ryan: you can clearly make out a couple of the words. he probably searched those and found the book. Mr. Munroe, you may want to clear the area before you take photos.
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I am continually amazed by how alike we think.
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“The best way is simply on your back with a pillow on your stomach holding the **** up a little bit.”
Chris, you’re dirty.
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Laziness is the absent father of invention.
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Its genius. pure genius. everyone who says nothing good comes from lazyness can eat their words. without Salt too
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For everyone’s info, Meneame is one of the most known Spanish sites.
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I. WANT.
Seriously though: patent that and start selling them. I’d buy one. (Bending a coat hanger’s too much trouble for me.)
Oh wait, I can’t afford a Kindle.
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You need a peeramid pillow: http://www.amazon.com/Peeramid-Pyramid-BOOKREST-Asian-Green/dp/B0018P8YK4/
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My mantra is: if you can’t fix it with coat hangar wire and duct tape, then it ain’t worth fixin’.
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awesome, I’ve had all those same issues xD
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Hogfather?
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Which is worse, that I recognized it as Hogfather by reading a few lines and remembering that this is a pretty pivotal scene in said book, or that I didn’t recognize it as Hogfather because it says “Hogfather” in the upper-left corner?
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I read e-books on my iPhone nearly every night, using Stanza. It’s much smaller than the Kindle, so you can’t see as much per page, but it’s easy to hold. The illumination can seem too bright even on the lowest setting, but I invert the colours to get white text on a black background, which helps.
E-book readers are so much better especially if you share a room, since it doesn’t disturb the other person like having a bedside lamp on would do.
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Oh my God! That is pure genius! Well that tears it, I’m buying a Kindle!
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You, good sir, are an inspiration for us all. Goddammit, I want a kindle so bad now. Why do you do this to me?
captcha: midget Atlanta
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Better patent that thing!
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Hah, Brilliant. I need some similar type of device (or hell, a remote really) for using kindle2 at the gym.
Anyone found anything good for that?
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reading on your side is goofy, period. I have no idea how you’d get into anything remotely resembling a comfortable position that way.
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Dammit you won me again!
I’m still trying to do something like that with paper-books (Kindle is too expensive!) but i’m not going anywhere xP.
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