Two Handy Book Holders:
Bookweights are a pretty simple thing, though I’m not even sure that ‘bookweights’ is the proper name for them. Essentially, it’s a weight that you can set on a book to hold it open. They’re pretty handy. Sometimes I’ll use it to hold a book open while I eat cereal in the morning. It beats having to hold a book in one hand and spoon in the other. They’re also useful for reading while taking notes without having to keep one hand on the book to hold it open. A bookweight is usually pretty inexpensive (about 10 bucks) and available at the big book stores like Borders or Barnes and Noble.
Portable bookstands are even better if you’re reading textbooks. Staples carries a great one. It folds flat, but when you open it, there’s a fairly large surface for the book. They work best with heavier books, like textbooks, since their weight will naturally hold them open. Some bookstands come with little catches that can keep the pages open (the Staples bookstand does). I like using a bookstand for reading since it elevates and tilts the book to almost eye-level. Instead of looking down, which can strain people’s necks after several hours, elevating the book makes it a lot easier to read for extended periods of time (hey, some people really need to read for hours and hours to get their work done!). They’re also pretty inexpensive, so they make a worthwhile investment for studying. Maybe it’s purely psychological, but bookstands seem to make it a lot easier to read dozens of pages at a time.
Posted by paperdan
paperdan