Yes, the topic of “Is the iPad the perfect reading device?” has been just about explored to death since the iPad’s release. I just can’t not share my experience with it.

I spent the majority of today without a laptop. While pondering what I would do, I remembered the iPad sitting on the kitchen counter — the one that belongs not to me, but to my dad’s office, which is why I avoided downloading applications. Once its presence was established, it logically followed that I should start reading on it. After all, that’s one of the things it’s strongly marketed as, and I’ve been neglecting my news feeds in favor of working on some websites.

After being disappointed that there wasn’t even one decent-looking free (or even 99¢) iPad RSS app, I decided to see how the Google Reader web interface looked — and I was pleasantly surprised. Aside from Safari’s tendency to reload the page some of the times I returned to it from reading an article in another page/window/tab, and Reader’s decision to return me to the top of the list of all my read articles and require me to hit a link to load more every 15 articles, it worked pretty well.

I say “pretty well” because I did have a few petty annoyances. The minor ones included the double-tap not zooming to the area I wanted it to, and scrolling sometimes locking in the wrong direction, and the selection interface popping up when it was unwanted. The process of closing a tab/window/page (tap the button to show them all in a grid, tap the x on the one you want to close, then tap the page you want to go back to) seemed overly complicated compared to the simple ⌘W I’m used to. Otherwise, it was relatively seamless, though I don’t really feel like it’s that different to “hold the Internet in my hands” rather than have it on my desk.

Since I didn’t want to leave my mark on the work iPad, lest I not be allowed to use it in future, I refrained from installing Readability (though likely the way-too-difficult process of installing Instapaper as a bookmarklet contributed to my reluctance). It made me wonder how long until Safari for iPad gets a Reader feature — maybe as an as-yet-unannounced feature of iOS 4.

When I finished the news and started using the Instapaper app (the Pro version), though, was when I saw how content could really be enjoyed on an iPad. Marco has created the perfect way to display text to be most readable on the device — according to my first impression. There are parts of the app that I wish were more refined, namely the ability to send things to a folder without opening them, and the ability to rename a folder. As it stands, though, it’s still a great way to read.

Some people have remarked about the iPad’s weight. I didn’t notice that at all, and I think I know why. As a kid, I loved to read. And when I say read, I mean books the size of Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows. I can’t say that they were all that size, but many were about half or longer. I’m not sure if they equalled the weight of an iPad, but they did get heavy, and as such, I subconsciously developed ways to counteract it. Mostly it involves resting the book on the arm of the chair, or my leg. Those instincts must have kicked in while I was reading on the iPad, because in about five hours of reading I didn’t get tired of holding it up. (This has also been said before, but, five hours without even coming close to using the entire battery? Impressive.)

That’s my first impression of the device, but it also made me realize something. More accurately, it forced me to admit something I’ve been aware of but didn’t want to acknowledge. The internet has undoubtedly changed the way I read. I noticed myself skimming the articles, even though I had time to read the entire thing. My instinct was to keep jumping around, from topic to topic, though I was specifically reading, not surfing the internet.

This realization/admission makes me want to try a test, though it remains to be seen whether I’ll be motivated enough to stop working. I have way too many books in my ‘to read pile,’ and many have been there for entirely too long. I wonder if I can train my brain away from this new kind of reading and back to the old kind, where I concentrated on what I was reading rather than what I would read next. If you’re interested, I might remember to post my progress on Readernaut, though I make no guarantees.