A professor of English at Wheaton College, who spent his childhood reading instead of watching TV, Alan Jacobs could easily be one of those people who lament the demise of the book and blame fast-paced, 140-character Internet culture. But instead, in a lecture I attended last week, he explained why the Kindle taught him to love to read again.

Like many of us these days, Jacobs recently found his attention span shortening. He couldn’t bring himself to spend hours and hours immersed in books, as he had for years before. But once he got a Kindle, he could read again. His theory? The buttons give his fingers something to do, calming the compulsive desire to check email or surf the Internet.

Jacobs is the author of The Pleasures of Reading in an Age of Distraction, which looks to be a delightful read.