Falling for/Cheating With (?) Kindle

For my birthday earlier this month, my husband surprised me with a Kindle.  Oh, I've wanted one since Amazon first introduced their e-book in 2007, but the still small voice inside my head just couldn't convince me that I needed to spend the money.  I love the technology.  I secretly laugh inside when I hear people saying "I'll never get one of those Kindles.  I just have to read the actual book.  The e-book just wouldn't be the same."

They are correct--the e-book just isn't the same as the printed text.  And that's a good thing.  How I love thee, Kindle...let me count the ways.

1.  I can lie in bed and hold it with one hand, snuggling under my warm quilt. My hand never gets tired.  I never have to use two hands to turn a page.

2.  I can enlarge the font to make it easier to read.

3.  I can shop for a new book anytime in the Kindle online store with the click of a button.

4.  I can take my Kindle anywhere and pull it out whenever I want to.  It's in a cover and looks like a journal or book.  I even downloaded a Bible to it and carry it to church.

5.  My library is with me whenever I want to change books.  I have anywhere from four to six books going at any one time, and the flexibility my Kindle gives me has changed my reading experience forever.  Now I may have ten or twelve books (or up to 1000) available to read anytime.

6.  I can email pdf files to myself from my approved emails.  The file I didn't have time to read at work I took home with me to read later that night on my Kindle.

7.  Each time I hold it, I'm subtly reminded that I am holding the equivalent of the printing press in my hand.  Hundreds of years from now, someone will be writing about the advent of the electronic book and the shift that occurred for reading and writing because of it.  History, in my hand.

No, Amazon did not pay me to write this blog post, which is why I'm going to mention a couple of negatives.  Amazon's Whispernet, the wireless network that delivers my e-books to my Kindle, is as slow as Christmas.  Hopefully that will change as the technology advances.

And finally, I did feel somewhat guilty when I ran into my favorite public librarian at an event in town this past weekend.  She mentioned that she hadn't seen me in the library in a few weeks, and I admitted to receiving my Kindle as a gift.  Her reply: "So now you're cheating on me with the Kindle."  Well, yes, I am, at least until the new wears off.  Books will always be my favorite things--now I just have a new medium with which to enjoy them.