Best for reading ebooks?

[Petros]

What do you recommend for reading ebooks? I'm going to be on quite a few long, international flights soon and I need something to do for a total of 48 hours in planes and airports. One can only sleep, eat, and read magazines so much. Batteries are not an issue for me, either.

I want to know two things. 1. What's the cheapest way to go? 2. What's the best way to go?

 

[NetRyder]

Cheapest way: a cellphone or PDA that can open eBooks, I guess.
Best way: A nice ultraportable notebook computer =)

Trouble is the former is not very practical, since the screens on cellphones and PDAs are usually too small...the eye-strain will be too much if you use it for long. The latter, on the other hand, might be overkill if you need it just to read eBooks on these trips. But then a computer is always handy, and you'll have a nice-sized TFT screen to read.

An alternative: How about real books...yes, as in paper books.

Other suggestions for long-flights (took a 23 hour flight alone to India last December):
In-flight movies, a fully loaded CD/mp3 player, in-flight games (I played multiplayer chess/checkers with some other passengers for quite a while, actually =P), eat, sleep, more sleep.