Articles always have a tendency to confuse two things: the quality of a particular produt and whether the basic principle is good. Clearly, no one is going to shell out for this thing. But if you go to amazon.com and read reviews of the kindle which costs half this, you'll see that ebooks are coming

Mark Joshi, Melbourne,

Books are already the perfect design. Portable, bookmarkable, underlineable, don't attract thieves, attractive cover designs, durable, look very inviting displayed. You can take them to the charity shop and buy another for 50p. Write dedications in them. Get them autographed. Love them!

Lucy Morris, Stratford,

Just got a Kindle, wonderfull. It is not a computer screen, no back lighting, six font sizes, zero eye strain. One can read for 15 hours a day without eye strain. Books are cheap, 6 volume set of Gibbon's "History of the Decline and Fall ..." is $0.99 from Amazon. No dusting required.

Glen, Pahrump, USA

Apple do sell books for the Ipod in their Apps store however they are mainly the Classics. One big problem with e-books is the lack of choice. Invariably the books you want to read have not been created as ebooks. Until there is a vast selection available, i doubt there will be much interest.

Vicky, London,

Henry Ford did not invent the car.

If you think he did, then more reading (ebook or otherwise) is required.

Bill, Singapore, Singapore

I agree that it is the lack of transferability which is the problem.

I have a library of a little under 1000 books. If there was a way for me to put all of those books on a reader - for free - then I would be interested (books often make up more than a fifth of my luggage). Until then, no thanks.

Miss Middle of Manchester, Manchester, UK

As an avid reader, I can't think of anything less appealing than curling up with a good computer screen. It strains the eyes, in ways reading with low light never will. The look, feel and smell of new and old books will, hopefully, never be replaced. Ironically, I prefer to read the paper online!

Jon, Altrincham, UK

One thing Nick fails to take into account. That is his thinking (and how old is he?) and that is now. When Henry Ford invented the car they thought he was crazy. We have our horse to get us around, why would anyone want that thing? Well, I don't see too many horses on the road lately : )

Paul, summit, USA

I got the MobiPocket Reader (free of charge) for my PDA. It's meant to be an e-book reader, but I mainly use it for reading journal articles related to my professional work. With one click I can convert any Word document or pdf file into MobiPocket, which lets me highlight and annotate the text.

Paul Raymont, Toronto, Canada

Catherine,couldnt agree more with you but manage couple of books a week!Just finished terrific suspense thriller (The De Clerambault Code by Nora Johnson) and looking at Marcel Berlin's Crime Round-Up below for more inspiration in the bookshops tomorrow...

Kevin Jakes, Oxford, UK

As an avid reader I take exception to number 4 on Nick Hornby's list. I am interested in new technology, where it makes a difference to my aural or visual experiences, but that doesn't mean I walk around with my brains hanging out. The new tech is way expensive, delicate and subject to fashion.

Bill Q, Derby,

Definitely a fantastic invention but I should imagine as there is so little competition in this field it will be a long time before we see one with sufficient memory, adequate features and low enough price. 2nd hand books and easy swapping are just so convenient.

ro, cheltenham,

I'm reading an eBook - and it only costs £14.99 a month. It's called 'the Internet'.

Abdul Majeed, Bradford, West Yorkshire, UK

i LOVE reading books, would never lie on a sunbed and watch tv, i work full time and have 3 small children, i still manange to get through at least 1 book a week....would def consider an ebook thingy if they werent too expensive.

Catherine, Strasbourg, France

Public domain books and newspapers may be read on a computer or iPod, with many size options between.

The beauty of a paperback is that it need not be treated with great reverence, gaining value by being shared and tatty and car-boot-saled.

Ebooks need to be more flexible and friendly.

M. Khan, San Antonio, Texas, USA

eBooks are growing in great popularity in the United States thanks to thousands of public libraries that provide download eBooks for use with PCs, notebooks, Blackberry, and many PDA and smartphone devices we already own and carry.

The Sony Reader is coming to market as well at a lower price.

S. Potash, Cleveland, OH, USA

Ebooks using e-ink technology need more coverage. The blatant advantages are being missed such as the ability to display text using zero power, only needing power to change the page - your Ipod or mobile phone can't do that! Plus, there is enormous potential with newspapers on them, speed +no waste!

Neil Taylor, Saltash, UK

I have been dying to get my hands on an e-reader but. apart from the iLiad which is far too expensive, they are almost unavailable in the U.K. A sub-one-hundred pound version would be an attractive proposition, there are thousands of public-domain books available on the web from Gutenberg and others

D B Sheppard, York, UK