Write or Wrong?

When the Kindle came out last year, I was completely disinterested. In fact, I was disgusted by the notion. Why, on earth, would any reader want to dispel of their books for this technological wonder [sic]? There’s nothing better than the smell of a freshly cracked hardcover book! No, I am not going to give up that guilty pleasure! To do so is sacrilege!

After my son received a Kindle for Christmas, he sang the praises of it. However, I remained a skeptic and continued to revere “real” books. They are like my children. “Don’t worry. I will never betray you!” Spoken like a true bibliophile.

My passion for the Kindle was an accidental discovery. I borrowed my son’s Kindle for a recent commute to New York City. I completely expected that my disdain for this gizmo would be affirmed. I was wrong. Here are my favorite Kindle features:

1)    Adjustable text size as well as the number of words per line. It is much easier on the eyes! Imagine the number of people who have to special-order large print books because of vision issues!

2)    Lightweight and portable. No more page turning. You just click a button for the next page. It’s fast!

3)    Automatic bookmarks. Kindle remembers where you left off reading and brings you right there when you are ready to resume reading.

4)    Free chapter samples from Amazon before you decide to purchase books. Yes, you can download the first two chapters before buying. This is a money saver!

5)    Kindle books are less expensive than the real thing. Hard cover books average $10.

6)    Annotations and highlighting with Kindle are easy.

7)    Space saver! I read multiple books at one time, and I always have little piles of books sitting around as I shift from one to another. No more. I even plan to put many of my books from my shelves on Kindle so I can reduce clutter!

8)    No glare to compromise readability with the Kindle. Read outside — on the beach. The words are perfectly clear!

9)    Adjustable light accessory allows you to read in the dark without disrupting others.

I still have much to explore with Kindle’s possibilities (magazines and blogs). Yet, I don’t believe I will ever go to a bookstore again. That was a favorite pastime for me. Not so much anymore.

This entry was posted on Thursday, May 20th, 2010 at 6:03 pm and is filed under Kindle, poll. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.