Nerd Chic: E-Readers of Yesteryear

The optician's down the road has a pair of spectacles in the display window, unironically labelled "nerd glasses". Those big black ones, you know. I saw a woman at the supermarket with a Daunt Books tote bag yesterday. And I recently overheard some Americans on Facebook, discussing a haircut spotted in a local bar which they described as "Dorothy Hammill hair". This, people, is Berlin. The place where you can be yourself and let it all hang out; where everybody knows your name, and they're always glad you came; the place where you can see our troubles are all the same. Or was that somewhere else?

No matter. Berlin is big on nerd chic, in a non-threatening way. It's OK to flaunt your slightly odd passions here. So when I read Hannah Johnson's sweet piece at Publishing Perspectives about loving her dinosaur-style Kindle, I thought, Yes! So what if everyone else has a flashy tablet? Our e-readers don't reflect! So what if they can check their emails and skype while reading? Our e-readers don't distract us! You may recall, also, my scientific experiment establishing that e-readers won't get us laid either. Hooray! Who wants to be diverted from their reading material by public-transport pick-up artists?

I've now decided that e-readers of yesteryear are the ultimate nerd accessory. You know how everyone was wearing digital watches last year or whenever? Forget it. An e-reader is better, because it won't annoy you by beeping or actually telling the time (if you have the same model as I do, at least). They're so out they're in. So make like your mum and dig yours out of the closet again - because every fashion comes around twice you know.