I strongly disagree on the small lenses. Now your reading zone is a larger percentage of the lense, so you have to move your head more. A larger lense enables a lower rate of change from the central reading zone to the distance zone.
How the zones are designed is a significant factor too. You can have a larger reading zone (say you do close work most of the time), or a smaller reading zone if you only occasionally do close work. It's really important to work with an optician to get the right setup, especially for your first pair.