> It's the other way around. The book isn't better because we evolved for the book. The book is better because it evolved for us.
But computer interfaces are evolving for us as well.
I'm not arguing that they are currently better; just that there isn't much about the form of the book that we are "hard wired" to prefer, but rather some inadequacies in both human interface as well as some other practical issues of e-book distribution.
The first paper you link is the only one that I would say really supports your point, but it only compares one way of reading on a screen (a PDF) against paper for a short document, and it doesn't probe very deeply into why reading comprehension was worse on the screen than paper. Is it the spatial location, is it the fact that you can spread out pages and see more at once on paper, is it the reduced eye strain from reflective vs. backlit presentation?
These are all things that could be relatively easily compared; provide paper with a scrolling interface rather than letting you turn the pages by hand, provide a paginated interface for the screen, use an e-ink display rather than LCD for the e-book case.
The second is about spatial memory of information on paper, but doesn't compare with a computer screen, and you can have a memorable spatial arrangement on a computer as well.
The third one compares paper to screen for proofreadig, but is from the 1983 and using white on black text on an Apple II. I think the differences in screen technology and UI design, along with the subjects having to learn a special purpose UI for copyediting on the screen, make that not all that relevant simply for the comparison of reading a book.
So anyhow, while there is some research on a screen being not as good as paper, it doesn't look like it goes into very much depth as to the reason for the difference, and whether it's based on spatial memory, deficiencies in UI on the computer, eye strain due to backlighting, or some combination.
But computer interfaces are evolving for us as well.
I'm not arguing that they are currently better; just that there isn't much about the form of the book that we are "hard wired" to prefer, but rather some inadequacies in both human interface as well as some other practical issues of e-book distribution.
The first paper you link is the only one that I would say really supports your point, but it only compares one way of reading on a screen (a PDF) against paper for a short document, and it doesn't probe very deeply into why reading comprehension was worse on the screen than paper. Is it the spatial location, is it the fact that you can spread out pages and see more at once on paper, is it the reduced eye strain from reflective vs. backlit presentation?
These are all things that could be relatively easily compared; provide paper with a scrolling interface rather than letting you turn the pages by hand, provide a paginated interface for the screen, use an e-ink display rather than LCD for the e-book case.
The second is about spatial memory of information on paper, but doesn't compare with a computer screen, and you can have a memorable spatial arrangement on a computer as well.
The third one compares paper to screen for proofreadig, but is from the 1983 and using white on black text on an Apple II. I think the differences in screen technology and UI design, along with the subjects having to learn a special purpose UI for copyediting on the screen, make that not all that relevant simply for the comparison of reading a book.
So anyhow, while there is some research on a screen being not as good as paper, it doesn't look like it goes into very much depth as to the reason for the difference, and whether it's based on spatial memory, deficiencies in UI on the computer, eye strain due to backlighting, or some combination.