Kindle, a very satisfactory device
Posted on July 3, 2008
Filed Under All, Photos, Technology, New Life |
So, here’s my Kindle on the breakfast-nook table this morning. Despite the fact that we are long-time subscribers to the print NY Times (and SF Chronicle) I do most of my newspaper reading these days on the Kindle, and this after only 3 weeks since its arrival on Father’s day.
I like it, and it’s dropped so easily into my ‘media consumption’ (aka reading) habits because it’s lightweight, relatively easy to use and the screen is remarkably legible, even in very dim, and very bright light. My currently impaired left side makes unfolding and refolding the paper difficult (and frustrating), and even makes it hard to hold a hardback in bed - both of which situations are solved by the Kindle’s light weight (some 10 ounces) and relatively large buttons.
So I’m reading more, thanks to the Kindle, and using time - on the train, in bed and elsewhere - that I had previously given up on. I also tend to read more newspaper stories beyond the first few paragraphs on the first page (see folding/unfolding, above). I’m reading the Times and the Wall St. Journal (which show up automatically over the Kindle’s wireless connection) and theologian Marcus Borg’s tome ‘Jesus‘ which cost $9.85, delivered, a few bucks less than the paperback. Indeed the Kindle has helped me get back into reading books (more on this in a future post).
The Kindle isn’t perfect, of course. My biggest complaint is that I can’t get all the titles I want. Despite the 100,000 editions reportedly available, my quirky tastes are under-represented (and I suspect this is true for most folks). I’d like to see The New Yorker and New Scientist magazines, as well as Ian Frazier’s Lamentations of the Father and Neal Stephenson’s upcoming Anathem. Amazon, the inventors and purveyors of Kindle, often have print, but not Kindle versions of the stuff I want. Hopefully, the ranks of Kindle users will grow, and with it, the availability of content…
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mmmm. Nice tasty drugs.
I wish. Except for the anti-convulsants,they’re old man pills - blood-pressure pill, fish oil, ’senior’ vitamins…
[…] Chris Gulker <gulker.com> received his Kindle for Father’s Day. Chris, who disparaged Kindle in February when I was in the Valley: (”What did they spend on the design, a buck ninety-nine!”) seems to have changed his mind. Chris headlined: “Kindle, a Very Satisfactory Device,” in his July 3, 2008 blog, one of several analyses that he’s written in the past three weeks. I like it, and it’s dropped so easily into my ‘media consumption’ (aka reading) habits because it’s lightweight, relatively easy to use and the screen is remarkably legible, even in very dim, and very bright light. […]