Now, keep in mind, I’m still learning my way around this device and I’m learning new things on it all the time. There are features I’ve played with but not used to their fullest extent yet, but can see how they’ll fit in nicely with my reading needs. Just today I purchased a book on a whim of the recommendation from a friend (Thanks Mike!); a Choose Your Own Adventure Zombie book. I wasn’t going to buy it because how in the hell do you flip to page numbers when there are no page numbers? I dreaded electronically flipping page by page trying to figure out where to continue reading. Imagine my delight when I discover that the “where you should go” text was linked and all I needed to do was click it and it took me to the appropriate spot! Genius!
So, with that tangent out of the way, let’s get to what I like about the Kindle.
First, I am truly beginning to love this little portable library. I tend to read more than one book at a time; one for education and one for pleasure. Sometimes I hit up three at a time as I’m reading one for my PhD, one for my work and of course the all-important pleasure reading. There’s something really amazing about sitting at lunch somewhere and switching almost seamlessly between books at the touch of a button especially when all I need to carry is a slim device that fits in my purse. I do a lot of traveling for my PhD research, to give presentation, attend conferences and for other work activities and it’s extremely liberating to be able to take whatever books I want with me and not have to worry about the weight of my carry-on or checked luggage. As a prolific reader, I don’t need to worry about hurrying up to finish a book before I leave so I don’t have to carry that extra weight.
Second, the Kindle has a couple of really cool functions.
First, it has a built in dictionary (2 actually) which is surprisingly handy. I read books and if I don’t know a word I tend to just skip it (bad scholar I know) because let’s be honest, who has time to put down the book to look it up on the internet or grab a dictionary. What if you’re out at a café or driving (being the passenger of course!) and you don’t have access to a dictionary? Reading through Stephen Kind’s “Full Dark, No Stars” I actually used the dictionary for the first time and was fulfilled by how quickly and easily I could add something to my vocabulary.
Second, it has the ability to highlight and add notes. When I’m reading for my PhD I always have carried around a second notebook to take notes and write important pages to go back to. While I honestly don’t know if I’ll ever break the habit (I like the act of hand writing thoughts), it’s a really nice feature to have access to. You can also share these notes and highlights with other Kindle users and via Facebook or Twitter.
Third, you can get some amazing works for very little cost. HOWEVER, not everything is cheaper than its paper counterpart. No one said that eBooks would be cheaper, that was just an assumption on their part. I paid the same for Stephen Kind’s book for the digital addition as I would have for the hardback and I didn’t bat an eye. If there’s something I want to read, I’ll pay what’s asked of me for the author’s work. What I have found though, is that I’m picking up stuff I otherwise might not have read or purchased. The Choose Your Own Adventure book I mentioned earlier was only $2.99 so I was okay with the gamble of paying for it. In contrast, the paperback is $14.95 and I most likely wouldn’t have spent that had I come across it in the store.
Fourth, not only can you get books for very little cost, you can get some classics for free! I had a field day downloading free books, like the work of Edgar Allen Poe, Charles Darwin, The Brothers Grimm, Japanese Fairy Tales, Irish Fairy Tales, and various other works. Now, I don’t know if I’ll honestly ever read these…but it’s nice to have them there and to have the option of picking them up when I want. I tend to buy a ton of books at one time and slowly work my way through them.
Fifth, you get instant gratification. There’s nothing like browsing through book selections, finding something you want and having it to browse through only minutes later. I have the 3G Kindle so I’m connected wherever I go. No more waiting for delivery and having to worry about lost packages.
Finally, a few new items just announced for Kindle. First, they are putting in page numbers. HOORAY! So far there are 10,000 books that have these. I, of course, don’t have one book that supports page numbers so I can’t test this out yet. They aren’t statically displayed so you have to press the Menu key to get the page number. I also read today that you can now loan out certain Kindle books to other Kindle users for 14 days.
Like I said, I’m sure there are many more features that I just haven’t discovered yet. The more I use it the more I like it. I still want my paperbacks though so in general I’ll probably be double buying until publishers get smart and start bundling. Overall, I’m glad I received a Kindle for my birthday. It helped me get over my anxiety about owning one. Now, I just need to somehow make more money to support my reading habit!
