Reading in bed

Someone described the condition of a friend in the hospital as being not even able to read. That brought the following to mind. Unfortunately he is not in good shape. Maintaining concentration is probably impossible when he'd not in the induced coma, so the following would be useless for him.

When you're flat on your back after (e.g. shoulder) surgery and you'd like to do something more than watch the boob tube, it is frustrating to realize you can't hold a book in position. E-books might change that.

There are several possibilities. You can mount a flatscreen monitor on the ceiling, and use a tablet at your hand with some kind of bluetooth interface to the monitor pickup, which would then control the monitor. This would allow other things besides just books, of course. You could fumble through your email, browse the web, or setup your own boob tube feed. However, room lighting might make it less than ideal. Room lighting (and the greater expense!) make projection on a screen on the ceiling even less attractive.

It would be easier to mount a swing-arm type of holder (with stiff springs!) to the headboard, for your e-reader or tablet. If you can lift your arm, it should be fairly easy to control. If you can't, a tablet should be within easy bluetooth range of a corresponding device you could have at your side. You'd need help with the orientation in that case, but since you'd probably also need help getting out of bed that's likely available.

Yep