Although it might look like nothing more than a giant iPod, the release of the Apple iPad is being hailed as nothing short of revolutionary. But exactly what sort of a revolution will this be? This Los Angeles Times preview talks about how book publishers, newspapers, and magazines alike are looking to the iPad for salvation. To be sure, the iPad might bring daily reading to a generation of young Americans that is as familiar with newspapers as it is with record players and typewriters. But it is also alarming to think that iPads could eventually replace books. It is a well established fact that the medium, as one sociologist famously put it, affects the message. We have seen this with newspapers and the Internet. Just compare the New York Times print edition with any one of its blogs—almost always, the writing in the former is stronger, more complex, and more information. So yes, iPads may revive reading for a generation that now spends only seven minutes a day engaged in the activity, but in so doing, will it also ruin reading? … And yes, I recognize the irony of saying such things on a blog.