And that’s the sense in which the line about mistaking the plate for the food makes perfect sense to me. It’s not that nice plates aren’t nice. But they’re not the same thing as the food. They’re an additional pleasure, certainly, but they neither increase nor detract from the pleasure provided by the food… It’s also nice to read a book in a nice room, with a nice view out the window and with good music on the stereo and wearing comfortable clothes etc. etc. etc.–all those things are pleasant. But they’re not “the book.” Anyone who insists that they’ll “never read a book on an e-reader, because that’s not real reading” (or what have you) strikes me as making a statement that is as absurd as saying “I’d never read a book in a room I didn’t find attractive, or if I didn’t have a nice view to look at when I lifted my eyes from the book, or if there wasn’t nice music playing in the background, or if I didn’t have a pleasant incense burning in the room” or what have you. Those are all things you might, or might not, find to be additional pleasures (just like a well-designed book), but they’re not “the novel”…

And that’s the sense in which the line about mistaking the plate for the food makes perfect sense to me. It’s not that nice plates aren’t nice. But they’re not the same thing as the food. They’re an additional pleasure, certainly, but they neither increase nor detract from the pleasure provided by the food… It’s also nice to read a book in a nice room, with a nice view out the window and with good music on the stereo and wearing comfortable clothes etc. etc. etc.–all those things are pleasant. But they’re not “the book.” Anyone who insists that they’ll “never read a book on an e-reader, because that’s not real reading” (or what have you) strikes me as making a statement that is as absurd as saying “I’d never read a book in a room I didn’t find attractive, or if I didn’t have a nice view to look at when I lifted my eyes from the book, or if there wasn’t nice music playing in the background, or if I didn’t have a pleasant incense burning in the room” or what have you. Those are all things you might, or might not, find to be additional pleasures (just like a well-designed book), but they’re not “the novel”…

—[“Lovers of print are simply confusing the plate for the food.”

MetaFilter](http://www.metafilter.com/142864/Lovers-of-print-are-simply-confusing-the-plate-for-the-food#5738880)