Solving the world's greatest question: iPad or Kindle?

reading for screen addicts

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In this generation, reading is rare.

I don’t know a single person who genuinely reads beyond textbooks and the occasional Goggins book.

Part of this comes down to the format of reading books. For too many teenagers and young adults like me, there’s too much of a mental barrier to buying a real book and actually reading it.

It’s too easy to just pick your phone instead. I know because I make this choice too.

Not doing so requires discipline, which is by nature of the word tough.

That said, reducing friction to reading makes it fun. A few formats I’ve tried:

1. iPhone

2. iPad

3. MacBook

4. Kindle

5. Normal books

And below are my systematic recommendations.

Fiction

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Fiction is easy. Kindle any day.

The iPad and iPhone were not solely designed for reading. The Kindle is. And its job very well.

The benefits of reading with an iPad in particular (the ability to easily take notes and store information) is not really useful for fiction. There are people who love doing that, but I do not care.

Note: I have a 12.9” iPad Pro. I’m sure the experience of reading on an iPad Mini is far superior. Between an iPad Mini and a Kindle I think it comes down to personal preference. But any iPad >= 10.9” is no match for a Kindle Paperwhite.

Nonfiction

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Nonfiction is a broad category.

For my use cases, there are four subcategories:

1. Leisure nonfiction

2. School textbooks

3. Idea books

4. Tip books

Leisure Nonfiction

This is chill nonfiction. I view these as fiction books that happen to be true.

90% of people won’t take notes while reading these books. And for that reason, a Kindle is superior.

School Textbooks

Textbooks → notes → iPad.

Always iPad.

PS - Check out Concepts. They are the GOAT notetaking app and are offering a free 30-day trial that you should check it out.

Idea Books

Think books like The 4-Hour Work Week by Tim Ferriss and Deep Work by Cal Newport.

For these, I enjoy using a Kindle. Notes may help sure but these books are based on broad ideas. Individual notes are not really helpful rather than a collective understanding of everything tied together.

Tip Books

Think books like The Art of Thinking Clearly by Rolf Dobelli and Being Logical by D. Q. McInerny.

For these, an iPad is a must. They often contain discrete points of information that you cannot effectively store in your head over the course of the entire book.

There is no one broad lesson.

In a sense, they are textbooks that are way more interesting.

The In-Betweens

The real issue comes with books that are in between the two previously discussed categories. One book that fits this in-between section that comes to mind is Atomic Habits by James Clear. While the book does emphasize a few main ideas, it also provides many in-depth techniques.

In this case, it's tricky to choose one device. Personally, I heard great things about Atomic Habits, so I felt that the extra time needed to set up my iPad for reading and Notion for note-taking would be worth it.

For similar books, it comes down to a case-by-case basis based on how I feel.

Conclusion

To be honest, it comes down to whether you think taking notes would improve the experience of reading the book.

if should_take_notes(book):
    return "iPad"
else:
    return "Kindle"

Thanks for reading!

Adi