There was a time when your choice of book told people who you were, or at least who you wanted to be. Or, barring that, who you wanted people to think you wanted to be. Having an e-reader doesn’t say anything but “I read books and have power outlets in my home”.

This quote from the article reminded me of riding the train into downtown and looking at what people were reading. I could look around and quickly see the new self-help books businessmen were reading, fiction novels that were popular and textbooks students were studying.

Now it is just a

white or black rectangular device with a screen and recessed buttons.

It got me thinking. What if there was an e-reader that when you bought a book to read, had a way to camouflage the whole device with the artwork from that book cover. Maybe when we have cheap flexible screens, these could be a case for the e-reader that would show the artwork. This would give publishers that extra bit of free marketing and people like me ways to pass the time.