Unclutterer

1. Posted by Kel - 09/02/2009

   Actually, for people like my mother with arthritis this is a great tool! Unitasker, yes, but without it reading a book is painful for her.

2. Posted by bogdan - 09/02/2009

   Does no one ever use two hands to keep a book open anymore? Or read at a desk?

3. Posted by BGW - 09/02/2009

   I don’t have arthritis but have several of these around the house. I hate clutter, but these truly are great tools, esp for reading bigger books before bed. Don’t knock until you try it!

4. Posted by Sara - 09/02/2009

   I have one of these, and I like it. I’ve never held a book with one hand the way you describe but I just tried it and it’s very uncomfortable. I’ll usually use two hands but if I feel like holding it with one hand this thing works great. It only cost about $3, what’s the big deal?

5. Posted by Jacki Hollywood Brown - 09/02/2009

   I can see these being useful for people with arthritis, perhaps carpal tunnel syndrome, older people reading big books with large type fonts.

   If it can help me hold a book open with one hand that leaves my other hand to do something else which allows me to multi-task (i.e. read novel & stir soup) – so then, would it really be a unitasker?

6. Posted by Vinod Singh - 09/02/2009

   Hmmmmmmmmm, was it a slow Unistasker day? This is quite handy to have next to your bed.

7. Posted by Karen in Wichita - 09/02/2009

   I have to disagree with the folks who like it… I was given one as a stocking stuffer and tried it out.

   It seemed like a good idea, but it just didn’t work that well. It just shifted the uncomfortableness from “my hand cramps up” to “ow, there’s plastic cutting a groove into my thumb.” Maybe I’m too (literally) thin-skinned for it or something. but ugh.

8. Posted by Stephanie - 09/02/2009

   I can’t believe how many commenters have used/seen these – I’ve never even heard of them before!

9. Posted by RoaringSilence - 09/02/2009

   I knew there would be an arthritis related comment before I even read this! hah.
   Doesn’t make the product any less silly for healthy people.. and that’s who they’re markting it to.

   By the way, has anyone thought of how impractical it is to flip a page this way?
   You can’t just retract your thumb like you usually do, you have to bend it really far to not tear the page with the plastic piece. Grand design, people.

10. Posted by CJ - 09/02/2009

    I can see how this would be helpful for people with arthritis, or for reading in bed. My annoyance with it isn’t its unitasker status, but the fact that it makes you sound like you’re lisping when you say the product name.

11. Posted by Crystal - 09/02/2009

    It is not necessarily a uni-tasker, you can use it as a bookmark as well.

12. Posted by Stephanie - 09/02/2009

    I have these and hate them. They hurt to use and didn’t alleviate any pain from holding the book the normal way.

13. Posted by Beth C - 09/02/2009

    ….is it bad if I WANT a Thumbthing? I could use it as a bookmark, and still walk&read without trouble!

    *grin*

14. Posted by Peter - 09/02/2009

    More plastic crap made in China to end up in landfills or littered around town.

15. Posted by Dawn F - 09/02/2009

    Peter took MY line! More plastic – ugh.

16. Posted by Tara - 09/02/2009

    Might actually be great for reading while nursing a baby!

17. Posted by Sarah - 09/02/2009

    This does seem a bit ridiculous. I don’t hold my books the way you described, I hold it with the back of my pinky against the left page and my thumb sort of curled at the bottom of the right page – it’s not uncomfortable, it doesn’t cramp up, and it’s easy to turn pages!

18. Posted by Lady in a Smalltown - 09/02/2009

    I bought one of these when I was reading some larger heavier books than I was used to. I have since lost it, but I did actually like it when I had it. My complaint was that my thumb was too fat for it, but when I put it on my middle or index finger and held it from the top it worked great.

    Then I had a baby and forgot how to read adult books.

19. Posted by Caroline - 09/02/2009

    I want this. Seriously.

    I have arthritis, and small thumbs to boot. This would make reading a book with one hand easy again! I could nurse and read at the same time! I could read on teh bus with the other hand holding the railign so I don’t topple!

20. Posted by Egirl - 09/02/2009

    That’s it . . . I’m going to get some for both my son and me as Christmas stocking stuffers!

21. Posted by Sue - 09/02/2009

    **hangs head down**

    I actually have this, but I think it is called something else… and the type I have came in different sizes for differently sized fingers/thumbs.

    I got mine in an independent bookstore in Ann Arbor called Nicola’s. Really great bookstore with lots of “reading tools”! … and lots of great books, too!!

22. Posted by emma - 09/02/2009

    i use my thumb and pinky to hold a book open. is that weird?

23. Posted by Allison - 09/02/2009

    I really don’t understand. I read approximately one book per week and I just don’t see the purpose. People have been reading books for a long time and somehow managed to do so without a Thumbthing for most of that time. I can see that perhaps this could be useful for people with arthritis or other physical issues that make holding a book open difficult, but doesn’t this gadget make it difficult to turn pages? I have to echo the comments about this being yet another piece of plastic crap that will end up in a landfill in a few years.

24. Posted by wch - 09/02/2009

    Use a binder clip.

25. Posted by Sarah - 09/02/2009

    If I had one of these, I doubt that I’d remember to use it. I guess bookmarks can be considered unitaskers in the same way. I usually end up using the receipt from the library as a bookmark.

26. Posted by Marie - 09/02/2009

    This looks like a junk version of those multi-finger rings. Get your arthritic grandma one of those and she’ll be rocking her street fashion. :p For example: http://shop.moxsie.com/bijules

27. Posted by Sometimez - 09/02/2009

    I’ve seen the ones offered in different sizes promoted for holding picture books being read to groups of small children. The adult reads with the book facing one way, but has to turn the book so everyone can look at the pictures. The gizmo helps to keep the pages open and hopefully flat. Makes sense to me.

28. Posted by BigAssSuperstar - 09/02/2009

    Like others here, I have one of these … or two of ‘em .. not that I can find them. They work great, except my thumb’s a little big. I gladly trade blisters for thumbstrain, though.

29. Posted by empty - 09/02/2009

    I’m sort of in awe of how many people have heard of this and use it. I read constantly; like “got volunteered to serve on the library committee at my university” constantly and have never seen nor heard of such a thing. And I’ve had no troubles nursing the baby without it. I’m a thumb and pinky reader. Fingers are multitaskers! Is that really so strange?

30. Posted by kat - 09/02/2009

    I actually want one of these… I have small hands can’t read a larger book on a crowded subway car (since I need one hand to hold onto the pole). I just can’t hold it open comfortably — the muscles in my hand and arm start to hurt, so I’m stuck staring into space unless I can grab a seat. (This is one major reason I prefer paperbacks.) I have seen a few of them in use on the subway, but haven’t seen one in a store yet — it’s been on my “if I ever see one of these in a store I’ll buy it” list for some time.

31. Posted by Brandon Green - 09/02/2009

    “There’s nothing else like it”…possibly for a good reason.

32. Posted by Cyrano - 09/02/2009

    Hey, if I use this as a bookmark, it’s a multi-tasker! In fact, it’s like the best bookmark ever!

33. Posted by Tony - 09/02/2009

    My big surprise is in all the comments (I haven’t read all of them just most) no-one has said anything about the “Great for commuters” sentence (last sentence in blue on their front page). Are they suggesting that this product will help someone drive and read?

34. Posted by Amy - 09/02/2009

    OMG people! Most of these comments are just ONE MORE reason that the readers of this site NEED this site! This is one of these absolute JUNK items that some people can’t emotionally resist. The best comment is:
    “I have one of these … or two of ‘em .. not that I can find them.” Kind of sums it all up…

    Use the thumb and pinky, or hold something hard down under your thumb to hold the pages open!

35. Posted by Jenn - 09/02/2009

    I like to drive and read.

    Kidding.

    But I am a lit teacher, and this little thing is actually pretty cool. Kids think it’s a gadget and are willing to read passages aloud for “explication de texte” exercises with the ThumbThing, since it’s a “game”–and they are 18. Go figure.

    They also go nutso for scratch-n-sniff stickers.

36. Posted by Nora - 09/02/2009

    Also good for choir singers who have to hold music books open, often for quite a long time.

37. Posted by Sandra - 09/02/2009

    It occurs to me, looking at this, that you could probably use an empty/valueless giftcard for this purpose, given the application of scissors.

38. Posted by gene - 09/02/2009

    …keep a look out for the bookmark adapter!

39. Posted by brokensaint - 09/02/2009

    I’d rather have one of those things that holds the book open on its own and use no hands so I can knit!

40. Posted by sarah - 09/03/2009

    It might be useful for people who walk briskly on a treadmill.

41. Posted by Leah - 09/03/2009

    I want to try this! I have small hands, I can comfortably hold a small paperback one handed, a normal size one and my hand does cramp up before I’m done, a big one and I can’t read it without provisions, so can’t read lying down in bed which, is what I want to do! I think if you have average size hands, you might not appreciate how a few centimeters smaller can make strength tasks with your hands exponentially harder.

42. Posted by gypsy packer - 09/03/2009

    An equivalent can be made by taking a pants hanger apart, and using the metal rod and clips to hold the book open. An arthritic acquaintance uses this method.

    I have arthritis in one hand but am quietly switching my reading habits to e-books on the laptop or iPod Touch.

43. Posted by Philly - 09/03/2009

    People, you’re on Unclutterer.com! If you have these things and hate them, throw them away! Or better yet, recycle them. Or even better, contact some of the people who say they want them and pass them on.

44. Posted by Rue - 09/03/2009

    I think some of you are missing the point – at least, those of you who say you hold a book open with your thumb and pinky. This gadget is for people who want to hold a book open with one hand while holding it up in the air, as the person in the picture is doing. (My mom does this frequently – she’ll have a book in one hand and be eating with the other.) Without the gadget you can pretty much only stick your thumb in the middle (I can’t imagine a way to hold a book up in the air using your thumb and pinky), and for books with stiff spines that doesn’t work so well. The idea of the Thumbthing is to put more pressure down on the pages themselves so the spine stays more open while you’re holding the book up!

    Anyways, that being said (not to defend it, but to explain that it’s not quite as ridiculous as it sounds) – I’ll just use my thumb!

45. Posted by Not missing the point - 09/03/2009

    You need more imagination then
    http://www.flickr.com/photos/l.....619580666/

46. Posted by Jay - 09/03/2009

    I hold books in various ways: two-handed with thumbs on opposite pages, one-handed with my thumb and pinky over the pages, one-handed with my fingers on the pages curled over the top of the book, one-handed with my thumb in the lower center, etc. As my hand or hands become uncomfortable, I switch my holding method.

    When you hold a book with the thumb and pinky, there are still three fingers supporting the book. If you can hold the book in the air with the thumb grip, you can do it with the thumb/pinky grip.

47. Posted by Amy - 09/03/2009

    @ Rue, take a look at “Not missing the point”‘s flicker link. That is using the “thumb pinky method.”

48. Posted by Karen Jones - 09/03/2009

    I think this is a brilliant gadget. I’d like one. I have a chronically sore right thumb from being a lifetime bedtime reader and possibly having some arthritis coming on… into my 40′s now after all

49. Posted by Elizabeth - 09/04/2009

    I cannot believe anyone would seriously think this thing is cool.

50. Posted by Jeanne Thelwell - 09/04/2009

    @Tony:

    “Great for commuters” — some of us commute on buses, trains and subways.

51. Posted by Shalin - 09/04/2009

    Alternative thumbthing – a pen

52. Posted by Karyn - 09/04/2009

    Personally, I like to sit in a comfy chair holding the book in both hands, wholly focused on what I am reading. I get more out of it that way, and don’t need to worry about how to hold the book with one hand.

    This product is a symptom of our cultural obsession with multitasking: that we can’t just READ, we have to be eating or cooking or nursing or jogging WHILE we read.

    The cure is not another piece of cheap plastic crap driving the Chinese worker further into existential angst over the meaninglessness of his job. The cure is to learn how to be fully present to whatever we are doing, to be fully focused on one thing at a time–which is all we really can do, anyway: one thing at a time. But it’s much more pleasant to do that one thing at a mindful pace instead of flicking back and forth from one task to the next every 30 seconds.

    If I’m reading, I’m focused on reading. If I’m exercising, I’m focused on exercising. If I’m eating, I’m focused on eating.

    Try it. You’ll like it.

53. Posted by Sharon - 09/04/2009

    I like to read lying in bed on my side, so I hold the book with one hand, and support myself/ turn pages with the other. I had a crushing injury to my hand, which 4 years later still causes pain, and my hand gets very sore after awhile, so this would be handy for me.

54. Posted by Cortaflex - 09/05/2009

    I suffer terribly with arthritis in my hands but as soon as I stopped eating red meat it made a huge difference. I still eat fish and I can’t resist bacon (who can!) but I’m sure it is because I’m no longer eating the fats in the meat that has helped me.

55. Posted by Chris - 09/07/2009

    To the person complaining about the advertisement “for commuters”: a lot of us commute by train, and as someone else said in this thread, if you don’t have a seat, this gadget would actually help keep your book open (particularly a heavier hardcover, for which using the pinky is more painful) while using the other hand to keep balance.

    Also for the person complaining about multitasking: you are forgetting the need to hold a grab rail if you are standing. If you need to spend 1 hour on a train going to work, it does make sense to “multitask” reading while you travel.

    I would not buy something like that, but I’m actually liking the idea. I’m sure I’ll be able to find something flexible enough for me to use in my thumb to the same effect. Not a terrible multitask, especially since it can be also used as a bookmark, as others have mentioned.

56. Posted by Lisa D - 09/08/2009

    This looks really useful to me, actually – due to tendonitis, my hands get tired holding books (especially one-handed). And thanks especially to the reader who recommended Nicola’s in Ann Arbor (from another ann arbor resident – how random is that!)

57. Posted by Carol - 09/09/2009

    Just when I thought “kindle” had superseded the need for such inventions.

    http://www.amazon.com/exec/obi.....tterer-20/

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