Books are wonderful things and reading is one of my greatest pleasures. My sister and I used to spend hours upon hours reading at home, in the car, on the bus, in bed, at school and even at the dinner table from time to time. Now the latter was undoubtedly bad manners but I think that our parents just loved that we were so interested in the written word. My interest in reading has not waned as I've gotten older but the time available for it has shrunk a bit with all of those wonderful adult things like jobs, commuting, housework, cooking and relationships.
Moving from the United States back to England, taking a CELTA course and then moving on to Slovakia is quite an endeavor, especially when one is limited to just two bags for all of one's possessions. With the exception of a 1936 copy of Homer's Odyssey from my grandmother, I didn't have space for any books in my luggage. In response to this, some of my family members pitched in to get my an Amazon Kindle E-Reader so I could have a lot of books contained within a single slim package.
For those who are interested in the technical aspects of the Kindle, I have the Kindle 3 Keyboard model with 3G wifi. I believe they now have a touchscreen version and I know that Amazon is steaming ahead on all fronts with a Kindle Fire tablet that looks set to rival Apple's Ipad. While the latter is not an E-reader per se, Amazon will undoubtedly offer all of its Kindle books on the Fire. This means you have several products to choose from if you're interested in reading books on an Amazon reader.
For me, there are three main things about the Kindle that stand out:
- The E-ink screen
- The wireless download of books
- The batter life.
The screen is the first part that will stand out when you get to try a Kindle. It is (on my model) black and white and is of the E-ink type. This screen produces really solid images that are crisp and clear to read, but don't change quickly enough for video or the like. In other words, it's ideal for an E-reader. I've frequently forgotten that I'm not reading a printed book when I use the screen. The words show up clearly, are easy to read (plus you can change font size) and there is no eyestrain so far. Now I'll admit that my longest reading stint was about six hours in one go when I was sucked into the gripping tales of Jules Verne so it's possible your eyes might get tired after more than that.....but then again you'd probably be tired of reading a regular book too. Pages are turned courtesy of two little buttons on the side of the Kindle. There is a forward and backward button on each side so it doesn't matter which hand(s) you hold it in when reading. The changing of a page isn't instant but is very fast. The E-Ink display basically winks and then shows the new page. It's about as fast as an average wink too, so no complaints from me.
The wireless downloading of books is something that I've really come to appreciate. Thus far I've managed to avoid spending any cash on the books by downloading classic literature that is available in the Kindle Store for free. The store is easy to navigate with the keyboard and little directional pad and once you've chosen a book to buy, it is downloaded and ready for use within thirty seconds or so. This is the part that blows me away and I imagine trying to explain to my grandmother, who loves books, that I can choose a new book, search for it, download it and then start reading it within thirty seconds even when I'm sitting in a small village in Southern Slovakia. I'm a big fan of the connection speed and you can also turn off the wireless if you want to save on battery.....
....but you probably won't need to. The battery life on the Kindle is measured not it hours or days, but weeks. I think I've charged my Kindle three times since I got it in June, so it's averaging a month between charges with quite active reading. Battery life is not something to complain about methinks.
So does the Kindle replace books? I don't think so. There is still something special about leafing through pages and seeing your books lined up on the shelves. And who can forget the wonderful smell of a new (or old) book when you flip through the pages?
On the other hand, I think what we're seeing here is the start of a move towards electronic reading in the same way that email has taken over from letter writing. It will never replace it simply because it is different but I think the advantages are there and will continue to grow as the technology improves.
In the end, I'm very happy with my Kindle. I am enjoying using it, I love being able to jump back to the exact page I was reading without losing my place, I like the convenience of downloading books wherever I am and I like the ease of use in general. If nothing else, it inspired me to read all of the following books and that can't be bad no matter what.
Since I got my Kindle I've read:
- Aesop's Fables
- Alice's Adventures in Wonderland
- Through the Looking Glass
- Heart of Darkness
- The Satyricon
- The Strange Case of Dr Jekyll and Mr Hyde
- Dracula
- The Art of War
- A Journey to the Centre of the Earth
- Twenty Thousand Leagues under the sea
- Around the world in 80 days
- The Importance of Being Earnest
You can't argue with classic literature available for free download ;-)
Pete
