Reading: a cheap hobby, an invaluable habit.

Thanks to Apple, Amazon, Gutenberg, and other purveyors of legal free eBooks, I carry a large collection of classics with me, entirely for free. (I also carry a large collection of paid ebooks and audiobooks, but all the books in the photo were free.)

This has made my travel much better.

In the old days, when I packed for a long trip, one of my main trade-offs was between weight and books for travel. Nowadays, that’s no longer a concern. With the Kindle app on my iPad, iPod touch, and laptop, and the iBooks app on the iPad, I’m carrying an entire library with me. 

And, for those times when I’m traveling, the motion making it hard to read, Audible audiobooks pick up the reading tasks in what would otherwise be dead time. (When I go for long walks I don’t listen to audiobooks anymore, as I want to think and clear my mind; that’s an occasion for music.)

The iPad really makes a difference for reading in bed. And it weighs less than a medium-sized hardcover book. Now if only I could get decent WiFi at the hotels in which I stay…